The Forgotten Gem
by Lykosdracos
Summary: COMPLETE- A treasure cursed, a past revealed, new enemies, and altogether loads of fun. Jack Sparrow has a new woman to contend with a girl the likes of which he's never known...
1. If Wishes were horses

If Wishes Were Horses…

Authors Note: This is written in response to a challenge by AnamariaSparrow! Sounds awesome, I have to warn you that this could get sort-of long. I'll post it on fanfic.net under Lykosdracos too. Hope you enjoy it!

Authors Note 2: I started to try and write this and I can't make a simpering Mary-Sue chick character, sorry, goes completely against the grain. So I'm going to do my best and hope you don't take points off for it.

Alexandria Chodas sat at her mahogany-wood writing desk staring off into space. With a pen poised in hand and a look of concentration on her face, she looked the epitome of a frustrated writer. Knowing no other way to release the sadness in her heart she had turned to writing for comfort. It was at times like these she cursed writers block.

Her grandmother had died a few days ago and while grief waged wars inside her, outwardly she had done her best to show no emotion. She used to go over twice a week after school until her parents could pick her up. Her mother was a firm believer in sticking to reality, not allowing anything fantastical or out of the ordinary into their house.

Iris, Alexandria's grandmother, had taught her all there was to know about the mystical realms that existed far beyond anything she could have imagined. Now she was gone and Alexandria could only convey herself through escaping to the worlds in which she wrote.

The door of her room was shut and locked, her mother didn't miss her anyway, she much rather preferred to spend time with her new boyfriend Rob than with her own daughter.

Alexandria took a small red-velvet box out from her pants pocket, it was the only thing she had to remember her grandmother by. The other members of the family had always considered Iris rather eccentric, with all her talk of other worlds and escaping from normality she scared them something terrible.

Opening the worn box gently she stared at the small black-onyx necklace that hung in the shape of a pirates flag. When it caught the light it almost seemed to move, and whenever there was a storm she would see it prominently against the white of her grandmothers shirt daring Poseidon to show his wrath.

Now it was hers and she'd not let anything happen to it. She clasped the two ends together so it hung around her neck and remembered the promise she made to her grandmother.

Feeling extremely injudicious she picked up the picture from a movie she had gone to see and repeated the words she had learned in litany:

"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Upon saying this wish to that world I will fly. To return or not is my choice to decide, to stay true to myself is th'only rule I'll abide. Nothing is set until full moon doth rise, and on the horizon is where my adventure lies. Take me there without further ado, this wish is nothing if not true."

She opened her eyes and sighed, why had she thought it would work? It was a story told to her over the years, she wondered if she had ever grown up. Instead of being a full eighteen years old, she was back to fifth grade mentality chanting those words over and over again so as not to forget.

Letting the necklace fall back underneath her shirt she had the sudden urge to fall asleep, not one to punish her body of needed rest, she did with her head on the laptop and her hand clutching a forgotten picture of a roguish-looking pirate.


	2. Beggars would ride

Chapter 2  
  
"Get outta the way, stupid wench!" she woke up groggily with the ground trembling slightly underneath her. What the- she rolled over and flung herself in the opposite direction.  
  
"Watch where your going, you idiot!" she growled getting to her feet wearily. Then it hit her this was not New Jersey, and this was definitely not anywhere she had ever been.  
  
It looked like the set of- she shook her head and ran her hands through long wavy-black hair. This wasn't happening it couldn't be true! The necklace! She clawed at the fine silver chain and stared at it in horror, damn whomever had said 'be careful what you wish for...' the phrase certainly applied!  
  
The man with the heavily laden cart being pulled by a gray donkey was long gone, women stared at her in open horror and men averted their eyes. It was what they were wearing that had her mutter to herself like an insane lunatic.  
  
"This can't be happening. Wake up! You can not be in the seventeenth- century, 'golden age of piracy' this just can not be happening!" no matter how many times she pinched herself she stayed firmly standing where she was.  
  
Okay, okay she was going to freak right out. She had nothing, only a black pair of loose pants and an equally baggy black shirt. Thank goodness she had fallen asleep fully dressed with her dark boots in place, she shuddered to think of the trouble she'd be in if she would have changed.  
  
"Hey, watch it!" she almost collided with a man carrying a pile of gunny- sacks. She felt like collapsing in any corner of the city, it didn't matter where, it didn't matter with whom, she just needed someplace to sit down and think.  
  
Her long black hair was a wreath of reds and blacks, she had never dyed it though many girls in her school had. It was a combination of that, the black buccaneer pants and her smoky black eyes drew attention from most who passed her by.  
  
"Um, yes, hello, miss?"  
  
Oh no, she recognized that articulate professional voice. It could only belong to one man. As she turned around her eye caught the snow-white wig and pristine uniform, his boots were shined to perfection, as was the gold- filigreed inlaid rapier. His eyes were a bluish-gray color and he stood with his arms behind his back.  
  
"Are you alright?" he asked with a touch of concern.  
  
"Yes, I'm fine. I don't mean to be here, honest. Don't arrest me..."  
  
"Why on earth would I do that?" his brows came together in confusion, "You haven't committed any crimes, have you?"  
  
"Not recently." She replied with a small smile, although even if she had did he think her stupid enough to admit it, "This is Port Royalet?"  
  
"Yes, the finest port in the Caribbean Sea. New to town, are you?"  
  
More than he'd ever know, but she had found a possible guide, she didn't know how to get back home and had nowhere to go until then though. What was she to do? There was only so much a woman could work as here, the bars must be filled to capacity, and she was definitely not searching out other occupations.  
  
She didn't want to think about it right now, there was no use reneging on wishes, she would start to prepare should anything happen. First thing she'd need is money, whomever had said the world doesn't revolve around coin hadn't been trapped in another movie-dimension.  
  
She recognized many people, the Commodore had introduced her around. There was Gilette, the pompous jerk she remembered him to be, Murtogg, a nice, if slightly addled rank officer, and the dock collector, the man who charged a shilling for both boat and name.  
  
Elizabeth and William Turner hadn't been mentioned, she wasn't sure what she'd do even if they were introduced. There was no possible way of mentioning Jack Sparrow in a conversation without alerting every military man on the island.  
  
"Commodore! There's a strange ship docked in the bay. We think they might be pirates!" said an officer in red, he was out of breath and panting from his exertions.  
  
"Very well." Norrington tipped his head chivalrously in her direction.  
  
"Duty calls." I smiled, "Maybe- er, mayhap I'll see you later."  
  
"Will do." He followed the officer in red and was gone striding away down towards the docks.  
  
What an amazing story to write, she thought as she walked past an apple cart. Subtly putting one in her pocket she wished for a pen or something with which to jot down all that had happened. Walking on trying to remember everything she could from the movie, she wandered aimlessly also bringing to memory all the old-English words she could think of.  
  
Noticing something shining on the ground, she knelt to pick it up only then noticing that the cobble-stones here were darker, alley-ways spread out to practically ever corner of the city. She had somehow made her way through the nice part of town into the- less hospitable areas.  
  
Women in bright gaudy dresses pranced around wearing lipstick and rouge applied too heavily for their white-powdered complexions. Men carried half- empty liquor bottles and hung onto walls for balance. It was a paradox, two sides to every coin, this was the other side to Port Royale that no movie would ever film.  
  
"'ello, dear." She nearly dropped the coin again so startled was she by the rum-hoarsened tone. A rank smell emnated from his very clothes and she had to struggle not to gag from it.  
  
He had a blue bandanna tied around his arm from where an injury of some kind was concealed. He sneered down at her through half-clouded eyes and a smirk through which she could see rotted yellow teeth. His greying hair was snarled and tangled wildly to match his thinning beard.  
  
He was a pirate, of that much she was certain, but this was no movie- buccaneer. He was the real, honest to goodness, terror of the seven seas. She stood slowly and noticed with sinking heart that hardly anyone was near enough to be of help.  
  
"Cat got ye're tongue, wench?" he grabbed a fistful of her hair and leered maliciously at it's soft texture, "I'll 'ave 'at fixed soon enough."  
  
Alexandria didn't know what to do, she had tried kicking him, but he only pulled her throat back in warning. Now a rusted knife lay nestled in the palm of his hand ready to be used at the slightest provocation.  
  
She turned her head to avoid his kiss and nearly gored herself on a blood- stained cutlass around the man's waist. It hadn't been cleaned, would she have been able to look closely she'd see the congealed and dried blood on the hilt and straw and dirt clinging to the scabbard  
  
"Get off me, you rotten ingrate!" she struggled and got a rough smack across the face for the effort.  
  
"Now, now." He breathed along her neck, "'s no fair t'tease. I'll pay ye fer t'services." He ran the flat side of the daggers blade along the underside of her chin making her understand the payment terms.  
  
"I'm not a whore!" she cried as she made one final lunge against him to be freed. It worked, the pirate lost his balance and she fell into an ungraceful heap on the ground. She looked around for anything she could use as a weapon, but didn't see so much as a piece of wood laying around.  
  
"I'll not be askin' ye again." The pirate had regained his footing and Alexandria scooted backwards to get away from him, "Lift ye're skirts 'fore I lose me temper."  
  
"No!" she screamed as he reached for her waist, his blue eyes were narrowed as he advanced towards her, her fingernails raked the side of his face as he veered to the side to escape further injury.  
  
"Ye'll pay for that." He snarled wiping two trickles of blood from his face.  
  
Alexandria's eyes widened as she saw a very familiar pirate captain approach. He wore black pants similar to hers, but she would have known his rolling gait anywhere. From the faded hat on his head to the scuffed ocean- worn brown boots, he cut an imposing figure.  
  
There was a red bandanna on his head around hair that was long, black, and braided through with gold coins and trinkets. His eyes were outlined in black, but her attention was diverted from the silver rings on his fingers when the drunkard pirate tried to get at her again.  
  
He obviously hadn't seen Jack yet, just as he closed the distance between them again and hauled her to her feet brutally, Jack tapped him on the shoulder.  
  
"See, now that's not very nice, mate."  
  
Alexandria was very glad for the pistol and cutlass around Jack's waist, if worst came to be he could fight the jerk himself.  
  
"I saw 'er first." Her attacker hissed, then upon seeing whom he was addressing, stood up straighter and tried to hide Alexandria by shoving her behind him.  
  
"Beg pardon?" Jack tipped his head to one side and rested a finger on his chin, "But were you just trying to lay the girl without her consent?"  
  
"Eh?" it was obvious that the scallawag had no idea of what Sparrow had said, although he recovered nicely, "She was willin'."  
  
"I was not!" Alexandria stepped to the side out from his shadow.  
  
"Quiet or else I'll make ye..." he stared at her ominously.  
  
"Wait for the opportune moment." Jack mouthed when the man was facing her, "... don't do anything stupid."  
  
She did as he asked, as Jack caught the drunkard's attention she kicked the back of his knee and sent him sprawling to the cobblestones. He didn't get back up, Jack nudged him lightly in the ribs to be sure.  
  
"Did I-" she stared at the prone body in fear.  
  
"No, love." Jack checked the pulse and sighed, "Jus' knocked him out."  
  
"Oh good!" she exclaimed in relief, "I-"  
  
"Where did you get that?" he was staring at her chest intently. Alexandria's necklace had come out from under her shirt in the scuffle.  
  
"A gift." She replied defiantly, the look in his tiger-bright brown eyes put her on edge.  
  
"That's interesting." He glanced up at the sky as if questioning the heavens, "That's very interesting."  
  
"What is?" she persisted. Iris had always told her that all planes of the imagination were connected, that all time and space between them didn't matter because everything was interlocked in some way or the other.  
  
"The giver, named after a flower? Iris?" he raised an eyebrow at her expression.  
  
"Yes..." nothing made sense anymore, if everything fit together than how was she in an entirely different time period when all the worlds would have collided? "How do you know her?"  
  
"Long story." He glanced at the downed pirate's body-  
  
"There's time. How did you know her name?" she needed to know, had her grandmother been here before?  
  
"Look, all I know is that a woman comes to me, 'I have a grandaughter,' she says, 'who'll come to the Caribbean one day. I want you to help her, you'll find that she'll help you, too.' Now what was I to do about that, I asked, There was no profit to be made on my side. 'I'll tell you where the greatest treasure you'll ever find is located.' She swears, then a year later I'm marooned on an island-"  
  
"I've heard the stories, by Barbossa and his crew of miscreants. They were cursed, so were you, and after ennacting your revenge, you were saved from hanging by William Turner and Elizabeth Swann."  
  
"How did you hear that one?" his eyes were even brighter now, "What's Iris been tellin' you?"  
  
"Nothing." Alexandria felt a lump come to her throat, "She died a few days ago."  
  
Jack looked surprised, "But she left an heir." She was glad that the subject would change, "With hair the color of raven's wing, and eyes enough to match. Take her to the treasure cursed and there you'll find your past. Touch no gold though devil tempts, for death will only wait, but find the ring as befits a king, and put no trust in fate." He said quietly to himself.  
  
"What does that mean?" she asked. It definitely sounded like something Iris had made up, the same riddle and warning together in a poem-type verse.  
  
"I was hoping you'd know." He slanted a glance in her direction, "Hair the color of ravens wing, your hair's shiny black, love. Eyes enough to match, I don't know what that means seeing as your eyes are green. The rest is easy, but put no trust in fate?"  
  
"Don't believe in the gods." She supplied helpfully.  
  
"Pirate." He gave his trade-mark grin and she felt light-headed. "Looks as if I've got a new crewman, eh? Do you know how to sail?"  
  
Alexandria shook her head no.  
  
"How to navigate?"  
  
"A little..."  
  
"Fighting then, do you know how to sword-fight, fire a pistol?"  
  
"Yes." Finally something she knew how to do. Sword-fighting she had learned both from fencing after school and her friend Chris' swords and daggers. Firing a pistol was no worse than aiming with a paintball gun, at least she hoped not.  
  
"Good, no worries then." He threw her a long dagger, "Keep a sharp eye, love, one never can tell what we'll run in too."  
  
"Or who." She said catching the weapon and putting it safely inside her boot. "All set?"  
  
"Yes, except for one thing." He smiled so she could see the gold teeth that adorned his mouth, "I don't know you're name, savvy?"  
  
"Alexandria, although most people call me Alex." She replied offering him her hand.  
  
Instead of shaking as if sealing a deal, he raised her knuckles to his mouth and whispered, "Lexa, then. It suits."  
  
"Lexa?" she couldn't believe how... gentlemanly... that was, and the nick-name, no one had ever called her that before.  
  
"Aye. And m'name's Jack, or Captain once we're aboard me ship."  
  
"Very well, Captain." She fell into step next to him, "I can't wait to see 'The Black Pearl.'  
  
"Well informed, aren't you." He wasn't displeased by the thought, he found her intriguing, her grandmother had been a hard one to predict, he wondered if she'd be the same.  
  
"You wouldn't believe." She laughed remembering how many times she'd seen Pirates of the Carribbean. At least twenty and that wasn't counting the times she'd skipped parts, or the commentaries, and the deleted scenes. 


	3. In Fields of Gold

Chapter 3  
  
It was true that she had seen the Pearl on widescreen, and fullscreen at the movie theaters. That was nothing when compared to the real thing. The black sails hung majestically from the mast, a thin film of white salt layered over them making the ship seem even more of a legend.  
  
"Fastest ship in the Caribbean, nigh uncatchable, and the lady of the ocean." Jack said proudly.  
  
She saw men scurrying around on an isolated beach right off the shores of Port Royale. They had the ship dragged up on the sand and were ridding the bottom of barnacles and algae.  
  
"Oy! Jack's..." the man who spoke trailed off when he saw Alexandria.  
  
"... brought a woman back." Gibbs continued, "Jack, y'know 's bad luck-"  
  
"Any complaints, see me." Ana barked leaving no room for argument, she glared around the small circle of men to prove her point.  
  
"What's 'er name?" Gibbs asked now that the surprise had died down, all eyes turned curiously towards her.  
  
"Alexandria." She replied before Jack could introduce her.  
  
"She goin' to stay with the crew?"  
  
"If all of you agree..." Jack watched as the men paused in their task, the sharp-sided blades used for prying barnacles from the wood was forgotten.  
  
"An' are you going t'thin those already signed on?" Ana inquired for all of them.  
  
"O'course not, mates." Jack looked surprised. "You're me crew, unless you leave of your own accord or mutiny," he shot a dark look at each and every one as if daring them to think about it, "We have no problems, savvy?"  
  
"Well then..." Marty glanced around in confirmation, "Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, lass."  
  
"See, what did I tell you." Jack put his arm around her waist and sauntered over to his ship. He noticed the hopeful expression on their faces and decided not to insist they continue their previous task.  
  
Alexandria stared at the ship in awe it was positively huge! The sails were half-lowered but still able to move with the wind, the ships wheel was rigged into place with a thick piece of coarse rope. It was the very image of what she had seen onscreen.  
  
Power was emphasized in the strong lines and planes of the ship. There was a maiden muse who played a trumpet at the bow of the ship as a guide through rough waters. It might have gleamed and shone bright as the moon at one point, but time had taken it's toll.  
  
From afar the ship looked like something mythical off the pages of book, but up close she was able to see it on a realistic level. The deck was in serious need of a good scrubbing.  
  
Crystallized salt, grime, and debris from the ocean lay tangled on the wooden planks. Before she could ask where the buckets, water, and brushes were, Jack had emerged from the hold of the ship. He had a box of twelve rum bottles.  
  
Marty, Cotton, Gibbs, and Ana passed them out to the rest of the crew. Jack handed her one, "You drink, love?"  
  
"Rum?" she glanced at it interestedly, she could handle liquor, she was from 2004 after all, but a whole bottle?  
  
"Pirates." He uncorked his and toasted her with it.  
  
"Then aye." She pulled the stopper out of the bottle and took a deep drink. The crew cheered, clinked theirs together and followed suit.  
  
"First order of business." They all sat down on various places along the beach. Jack was Captain, so naturally he was the one who spoke first. "Listing of ondeck and port rules that must be followed. Failure to obey said rules results in almost certain death."  
  
"Taken to the grave, no exceptions. Violation of the rules leads to punishment for severity of the crime committed." Ana said solemnly.  
  
"Which we said to hell with a long time ago." Jack grinned, "Our only rules are that no one in our crew is left behind unless absolutely necessary."  
  
"Loot be split equally among the men. And, er, women." Gibbs put in somewhat awkwardly.  
  
"Duels be fought on dry land, no accidental injuries that way, savvy?''  
  
"All crew gets a saw towards the next port-of-call. Work's split evenly among us. Should any decide to settle on land, sufficient wages and coin shall be given, enough for a period of ten years."  
  
"You get all that, love?" Jack asked as she took a drink of the rum. It was definitely some of the best she had ever tasted, even though it was warm from the sun and in a bottle that had seen better days, the taste was crisp, fresh, and not lacking in anything.  
  
"I think so." She motioned towards Gibbs, "Loot's split equally same as the work, we all decide on what port we go to next, retirement's got it's funds, and no dueling ondeck."  
  
"She's a quick learner." Marty praised, "You'll do well here with us."  
  
"I hope so." She replied, everything seemed perfect, nothing could go wrong. She had a crew, a ship, and Jack had unknowingly brought the security promised to her by Iris.  
  
"We done here, mates?" Jack asked throwing the empty bottle into the ocean.  
  
"Aye, Captain!"  
  
"Alright, lets get 'er back into the water 'fore the Navy comes calling." She pitched in to help push the ship back towards the water. It was a lot easier than it looked, but then there were a lot of people helping.  
  
The water was bluish-green, the sight brought bittersweet memories flooding back. She had been on a cruise and some boats in vacation places, but never had water been this beautiful. Time had passed, the brilliant clarity of the water eventually fogged over, everything that existed now was paved over and changed.  
  
That was the fate of land and sea, to always change and never have a say.  
  
"You alright?" Jack had boarded the ship with the rest of the crew and they had taken their places. Alexandria stood at the side of the ship with a few ropes waiting for the next command. She had a slightly dazed look on her face, he wondered if she was mayhap seasick. This wouldn't be the first time a crewman suffered from that illness.  
  
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, thanks." She replied snapping back to reality. Fading off into thought while onboard a moving pirate ship, definitely not a good idea.  
  
Jack frowned a little, she had an odd way of speaking, not like anything he had ever heard before. There wasn't an accent, she just had a way of putting words together not cockney or a brogue... just different.  
  
"Where we headed to this time, Captain?" Gibbs asked.  
  
"Tortuga." Jack grinned, he wanted to be sure that his crew was in a good mood before springing the news on them. Captains had been mutinied against for lesser charges than what he planned to propose to them.  
  
Bringing them back to the cursed treasure was bad enough, but actually looking for more treasure that might have a curse on it? The chances of surviving were low as it was, he just hoped that none of them found out that it was the girl who started the adventure off. 


	4. Over silver gilt paths

Chapter 4   
Authors Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I've never done a time traveling fic before, and it's both easier and harder than I expected it to be. Hahaha  
  
Tortuga, this was one of the most interesting and memorable places in the Caribbean, definitely a new experience everytime. She had been pushed, prodded, shoved, and pinched by any number of unseen hands. Jack seemed oblivious to the uproarious laughter, drunken sops, and harlots who ran from man to man for coins.  
  
If ever she wanted to further her education all she had to do was peer inside an alley. At least two couples occupied the small space at a time, they didn't care who saw or heard so long as coin was offered. Alexandria averted her eyes from such sights, what they were doing she had no wish to observe.  
  
"Ever been to Tortuga before?" Jack asked as he guided her through the bustling streets. It was the dead of night, yet no one seemed to even be contemplating sleep. Neither was Alexandria, although she would have preferred to be away from the crowds and somewhere a little less populated.  
  
"No, I'm afraid not, Captain." She replied as Jack slung his arm around her waist to stop them from stepping into a drunk's way. Another few inches and they would have been cut to ribbons from the man's brandished sword.  
  
Alex had, for as long as she could remember, been interested in everything to do with pirates. Iris had encouraged her, buying books, telling her legends and lore... with the movie she had refreshed her memory again. It was a good thing she had, the slang, navigating, and history of pirate ports was new in her memory.  
  
One of the most hospitable ports in the Caribbean, love." He smiled at the thought, "If all the rest were like this one, pirates'd never have to worry about dancin' the hempen jig."  
  
"I can imagine." She glanced up at the balcony where a woman was being held upside down by her ankles. Jack followed her shocked expression and half- grinned in memory.  
  
"Rosette." He sighed, "Everything stays the same, no one changes in Tortuga. Set port one year, come back again in the future and never be disappointed... but most importantly... the rum."  
  
To say the tavern was crowded would be an understatement, packed to bursting and still more people coming in as they made their way to the counter. Voices rose in agitation, peals of laughter echoed around the room, and the clinking of glasses was heard as they hit the table.  
  
"Well, well, if it isn't Jack Sparrow." Alex turned and faced an irate looking woman, her face was heavily painted in red, from her lips to over her eyes, even the color of her dress was red.  
  
"Captain, if you please, sweet." He said before really seeing who it was, then when it registered his hand fluttered in a semi-circle to show his mix of mistrust and familiarity. "Scarlett!"  
  
"Aye, and it's you who owes me two pounds from last time." She made a threatening motion towards his chest.  
  
"Of course, I didn't forget." Jack reached into a brown pouch at his waist and procured said coins. "See, just as I promised."  
  
"This time." She took the coins and turned on her heel with a flurry of skirts.  
  
"Two rums, no water in'em, savvy?" Jack addressed the bartender, for one brief moment Alexandria had the image of him asking for ID. She laughed at her mistake, ID wouldn't be created for another hundred years or so.  
  
"Pay now, not later." The barkeep warned before giving the tankards over.  
  
"I'm not on French leave." Jack admonished, "I've got coin for you and plenty."  
  
Just then Alex was rudely pushed out of the way by a short brown-haired woman whose dress was definitely a full-size too small. Nothing was left to the imagination, nor had she tried to hide the abundant display of cleavage or the water dousened bodice of her dress.  
  
"Jack!" she breathed happily throwing herself into his arms, it was a hug that went above and beyond indecent. "Glad t'see me?"  
  
"Erm-"Jack glanced at Alex apologetically, her eyes were narrowed dangerously and she had her arms crossed.  
  
"Paris..." the woman hinted taking Jack's hesitation the wrong way.  
  
"No, no I know ye're name, but-"  
  
"He's otherwise engaged." Alex rolled her eyes, give a man a blonde well- endowed ditz and he turned daft himself. She had known Jack Sparrow was well acquainted with the women here, but Paris...!  
  
Paris looked Alex over scornfully, she had such a tan and her clothes weren't at all feminine. "I'm sure he don't mind, luv." The only other person she had ever seen Jack speak to like that was Anamaria, but it word spread that the two of them were strictly on a 'business' relationship.  
  
"No, actually-"Jack tried to interrupt.  
  
"He might not," Alex snarled, "But I sure as hell do. Go make your rounds somewhere else."  
  
"Why- how dare you!" Paris trilled finally stepping away from Jack.  
  
"Took you awhile to answer." Alex remarked, "Corset laced a bit too tight?"  
  
"Jaackkk!" she wailed, "You're goin t'let her alk t'me that way?"  
  
"Need him to fight your battles, do you?" Alex grinned, she might hold no contest to Anamaria, but against the other she-bitches who wanted to get their claws into him... it was just too easy.  
  
The wench's name was Paris, pronounced Pah-rhee with a French accent. Her blonde-hair and blue eyes weren't to be underestimated, there was a calculating and greedy expression underneath the façade she normally wore.  
  
Paris let loose a shriek of rage and threw a punch that Alex barely dodged. Jack decided that this was as good a time as any to step in, fights were common enough on Tortuga, but he wanted Lexa to keep a relatively low profile.  
  
She was the key to a possibly large treasure, and if word got around, especially in the corrupt ranks of Tortuga, she'd be hunted down. He had seen it happen before, that was one of the ways he had gathered a crew together to go after the Aztec gold.  
  
He restrained the urge to wince at Paris' high shriek as Alex stopped countering blows and returned one of her own. Jack didn't blame her, there was already a bruise forming over her cheek.  
  
Jack was waiting for his opportune moment, Paris got close enough to him so he grabbed her around the waist before she could rake her nails down Lexa's arm.  
  
"I knew it!" she simpered all traces of the fight forgotten. "Who would want you." She sneered at Alexandria.  
  
Jack's gaze caught her hurt expression before she was able to hide it behind indifference. She made her way through the crowds again leaving him alone with Paris.  
  
"So what'll it be, luv?" she winked and straightened her hair.  
  
"Who would want her?" Jack repeated Paris' question from before, "I would." Then he followed Lexa's trail, he had to find her before she got herself into trouble. Running off, especially when there were two good rum tankards waiting for them, wasn't smart, but in this case she was entirely justified.  
  
French leave- to leave the ship without permission, such as to go get drunk ashore.  
  
Authors Note: Definitely not some of my best writing, I can hardly read this. I was just plowing through, editing, and fixing it up as best as I could. Wince. So what do you all think? Crap, right? I really do apologize, I'll do better next time. 


	5. Then through the mirror glass

Chapter 5   
Authors Note: Back in PA, writing, watching Gilmore Girls... yadda, yadda, back to writing now  
  
"Lexa?" Jack finally caught up with her, she was sitting on the dock looking out into the ocean. There was something calming at the endless abundant source of water, foaming against the wood posts and swirling around under the planks. "Alexandria?"  
  
"What happened to Paris? She done already?" She knew that it was wrong of her to be snapping at Jack, it wasn't his fault that some bitch blonde chose him out of all the other men at the tavern.  
  
"Look, love." Jack sighed and sat down next to her. "This is Tortuga, she was just doing what she does best." Alex looked sideways at the wicked grin on his face. "Don't let what she said bother you, savvy?"  
  
"It doesn't." Alex shrugged, "Why would it?"  
  
"No reason." Jack shot her a sideways glance, she wasn't like other women. Something told him that trying to seduce her wasn't going to go far in making her forget her problems.  
  
"Right, sorry to have made you worry. Enjoy your evening."  
  
Jack laughed aloud at that, a better dismissal he had yet to hear. She was unlike anyone he had ever met before, spirited and willing to speak her mind, not a strumpet on Tortuga could match her ardor.  
  
"I have a better idea. What say you to me teaching you how to sail? You can leave the bucket and mop behind next time." He suggested, the look in her eyes as she watched men in the rigging and when Ana took over at the wheel reminded him of how he felt the first time he was on a ship.  
  
"Really?" her eyes brightened from the listless color they were, "You would really teach me how to sail the ship?"  
  
"I said so didn't I?" Jack stood and held out a hand to help her up too. Now Alex was a fanfic writer and she had to admit to herself that she had made Jack out to be polite, well as nice as a pirate could be, but it was a completely different thing to actually have met him. Another thing was that he... actually... was as considerate as she had made him out to be.  
  
The ship was no less daunting in the nighttime than it was during the day. It still loomed up great and majestic despite the mold and algae that grew on the dock. This was what she was going to learn from, man, and she had thought driving was hard!  
  
Jack patiently showed her how to navigate using the tricks and tips he had learned over the years. Lexa was a quick learner, she remembered what he told her by the second try if not the first.  
  
He still didn't understand some of what she said, it almost seemed as if she were swearing, but the likes of which he never had heard before. 'Damn' he had heard of and used numerous times himself but 'shoot' and 'crap'? Not likely.  
  
"Hey, Jack?" she called, he went over to where she was standing at the wheel and adjusted it a little so that they were once again heading north. "What did the crew have to say about going after the treasure?"  
  
"They didn't say anything yet." Jack replied matter-of-factly. "I haven't told them."  
  
"But you're going too, aye?"  
  
"What would you say to just you and I going after it? The crew could stay here and take their much needed rest..."  
  
"Why, Captain Sparrow!" Lexa grinned wickedly, "You're not nervous about telling them, are you?"  
  
"Certainly not!" he glanced at her reproachfully. "Gibbs' been tellin' me that they need to halt from all the sailing and what not. It has been months since they've seen a port. Just figure that..."  
  
"I'd be happy too." She said then, "Two people can commander this ship?"  
  
"I'd have to call in a favor." Jack sighed and ran a hand lovingly over the wood banister of the ship. "It'd still be a large ship worthy of a buccaneer crew, mind you, but not so grand as this one."  
  
"I'm sure it'll be great..." she trailed off unsure of what to say. What should she have said to that?  
  
He didn't understand all of what she had just said, what did 'great' mean? Mayhap good, but she looked pleased nonetheless so he let the subject drop. She was doing so much better now, he was no longer worried about whether she understood the ship and how the Pearl sailed against wind.  
  
Around twenty minutes later Jack, with some help from dock-workers, had secured the Black Pearl so that not even the roughest waters would cause her to wander.  
  
"So are there any places to stay around here? Preferably away from any more Paris' or... mayhap you'd prefer them." She winked, Jack smiled inwardly she was definitely not like any other woman he knew. They had the tendency to hold a grudge and for Paris' outbreak he expected at least a slap, all she did was go to the ocean for comfort.  
  
"Aye, 'Inland Cove' or- nay, you would probably want to avoid that one." Jack said remembering the sailors that usually inhabited 'The Red Tavern.' She'd probably be taken as a harlot and hell knew what would happen then.  
  
"So Inland Cove it is." She looped her arm through his as they were earlier that night and walked with him back towards the very populated town. They were walking down near an alleyway when Alex saw someone she recognized from her grandmother's sketches.  
  
It was confirmed, Iris had been to the Caribbean sometime during the seventeen hundreds. She had drawn him down to the very planes of his face, the same fine pants and brocaded dark green jacket.  
  
His name was Arik Casio and he was one of the most evilly corrupt man Iris had the misfortune of meeting. She had told Alex the story, leaving out the fact that it had happened around three hundred years ago, upon learning that her granddaughter was going to New York.  
  
She warned her not to go traveling alone at night lest men like Arik rob her or worse. The story went that had it not been for a man in black, she wouldn't be alive to tell the tale. Arik was one for sadistically hurting women especially ones with dark hair. Iris had escaped unscathed because of the man in black.  
  
The man she saw not twenty paces from them had to be Arik. She pulled Jack into the darker confines of the alley and his instinct took over. With her back against the wall he tipped his head to the side and captured her mouth in a kiss.  
  
"What are you-" she started to say, but then she saw a flash of jacket and quickly shook her head so her hair covered the left side of her face. She raised a knee and draped it over Jack's hip initiating the kiss herself this time.  
  
For a few moments she forgot where she was, lost to everything except the rum and salt flavored smell of Jack's clothes and the expertise of his mouth against hers. He pulled back and looked down at her smiling.  
  
"Welcome to Tortuga, love."  
  
She laughed at that glad for the spark of humor, her blood was still rushing through her veins and her pulse was pounding, but she doubted that was the result of seeing Arik again.  
  
"Now, as enlightening as that was, mind telling me what that was really about?" Jack asked raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Erm, yes, well, I'm sorry about this, really I am. I didn't mean too-"  
  
"Don't apologize, Lexa." He said softly, "I don't, and will not, take you as one of Scarlett's."  
  
"Oh." She said comprehension dawning, "Good, because I'm not, it's just... there was a man... no, that doesn't sound right. Hang on." She bit her lip thinking of how best to phrase what she was trying to say. "Could we maybe go to the place you suggested and talk more there?"  
  
"Aye. Keep close." Jack could feel the change in her, she was like a cornered animal as they stepped back out of the alley. Always looking around wary of any who walked past them. He would find out what made her so afraid before the night was over and allay any fears she might have of men. 


	6. And beyond

Chapter 6  
Authors Note: Thank you Dawnie-7, AhiFlame, and everyone else who reviewed! I'm glad that you're liking how the plot's progressing, it took me awhile to come up with something... hence the long period of time when nothing was posted. Lol. I hesitate to call it writers block, you know 'knock on wood' and all again. Hahaha  
  
At first glance Lexa wanted to turn tail and run, the place was over- populated to the point of bursting! People were leaning out of windows and carousing up and down the balcony of the inn.  
  
She was never much of a people person and the thought of accidentally bumping into Arik made fear run it's icy trail through her veins. Jack took one glance at her expression and led them towards the back of the establishment.  
  
There were people there as well, but none of them were in any way fit to remember anything. The one closest to consciousness moved his head an inch to the right as they walked past, muttered incoherently, and then let the bottle slide from his vise-like grip.  
  
"Fourth window on the left." Jack said staring up at the third story window.  
  
"We're... climbing that?" Lexa said doubtfully looking at the ragged vines and rotting wood of the trellis.  
  
"Do you see another way up?" Jack asked as if it were the most logical thought in the world. "I'll go first and you follow my lead, savvy?"  
  
"Aye." She remembered the word for yes and made note of where he stepped so as not to fall back.  
  
"Wait." Jack peered into the window, "This one's occupied." He winked and she took a deep breath careful not to let go.  
  
"Okay, what are we going to do now?"  
  
"This one." He announced, it was empty and from the freshly changed linen would remain so for the rest of the night.  
  
Moving diagonally wasn't easy as he made it look, she had nearly reached the ledge when the wood cracked. As the trellis collapsed beneath her she barely had time to scream, a sound that came out more as a muffled whisper. All the air seemed to have left her lungs as she reached out instantly for anything that might help her.  
  
Jack grabbed her by the wrist supporting her shoulder so that the bone wouldn't disconnect. The last few inches were scaled easily and she stood trying to regain her breath as Jack sighed deeply.  
  
"Think I was going to let you fall, eh?" the familiar mischievous look was back on his face.  
  
"That thought did cross my mind." She chuckled nervously, "Thank you for saving me, again."  
  
He slid the window open and jumped down into the room holding out a hand for her to join him. It was simple enough, but considering what the room was probably used for they were lucky to have chairs and a full-sized bed.  
  
The floors were wooden without any carpets or rugs, only a hearth with firewood stacked in the corner for adornment. The bed was plain with black sheets and a woolen comforter to keep the occupant warm.  
  
"Not one of the most luxurious places to stay..."  
  
"No, no, I think it's wonderful." She hastened to say, there was no way she wanted him to think that she wasn't grateful for all he'd done.  
  
"Very well then." He went over to the bed and sprawled down comfortably.  
  
Pillows were propped up behind his head and the picture he made reminded her of Wesley from 'The Princess Bride.' Relaxed yet somehow still managing to appear fit to jump into a fight at any moment. His cutlass, pistol, and belt were dropped to the floor beside him, his boots and clothes he left on.  
  
"Going to stand there all night, are you?" he asked watching the indecision war over her face amusedly. "There's plenty of room for two."  
  
"Aye, that's what I'm afraid of." she grinned, but went to the opposite side and lay on her stomach facing him. "This is going to sound really strange..."  
  
"I went searching ten years for The Black Pearl, kept track of where it went and what Barbossa pillaged. My ship was said to be manned by ranks of the undead and captained by a pirate said to be Lucifer himself." He quirked an eyebrow and scoffed at the word 'captained.'  
  
"So then nothing I say is going to phase you, is that it?" she was relieved by that nonetheless.  
  
"No, because that would be testing fate, something Master Gibbs reminds me is unwise at least once a day. So I'm just to assume that it's a risk to both our lives, my ship, and anyone who happens to sign on along with us."  
  
"We'll soon see, won't we." He put his hands clasped behind his head still managing to make eye contact with her.  
  
"What made you so afraid in the alleyway, love?"  
  
"Okay, well, first I just want to clarify that it wasn't because of you. Because you were- well, that wasn't the bad part." She stopped herself short reminded of the fact that she needed to speak as if she were part of his time period.  
  
"Good, I'm very glad, lass." He grinned and pulled her lightly over to him, "Because I think we've reached a very good place here. Spiritually, physically..."  
  
"Not that good a place, Captain Sparrow." She said while laughing at the playful look on his face.  
  
"See, now this would be a most opportune time for rum." He sighed as if mourning the loss of a dear loved one. "Loosens the tongue and conversation starts. As it is, I have to ask because it's the only conclusion I have to draw... is the reason you were afraid because a man succeeded where he wasn't wanted?"  
  
"Hang on, are you trying to ask me if I was raped?!" she asked incredulously.  
  
"If you were what, love?" what did she mean by talking about hanging and what the devil did she mean by raped?  
  
"Um, forced, taken without consent." She clarified.  
  
"Then yes, that be exactly what I meant." Which still didn't explain why she had mentioned hanging, but as he thought about it, mayhap she wished the vile bastard to get his dues.  
  
"No, I was never- I mean no man-" Alexa looked away sure her cheeks were red as they could be. "It's just never been a major priority, alright. Know how it's done, read about what it's like, joked and written it, but, well, you know. Well actually, you would know the whole 'been there done that' thing, right?"  
  
"If you say so, I can always... prove... it to you."  
  
"I'll pass on that... for now." She grinned, "Why is it that we keep evading the real questions?"  
  
"Not really sure." Jack shrugged, "mayhap it's because you don't want to tell me? Are you not ready to say? I won't force you too, you know that, aye?"  
  
"Yes, and I thank you for that." She took a deep breath, "Iris was, as you know, my grandmother, but she was also from the year two thousand and four."  
  
"Two thousand four." Jack echoed.  
  
"Exactly, but she managed to get back here, same as I did. And while she was here there apparently was some treasure that she hid, or had hidden for her, not only that but as in everything else, there was a bad guy."  
  
She paused hoping that he wouldn't think her completely daft, yet the expression on his face was devoid of any negative emotion. As before there was only concern for their dilemma and, if she wasn't wrong, for her.  
  
"His name was Arik Casio and he not only threatened Iris but gave her the scar down her left temple that was there 'til the day she died. To make a long story short he's here. Right now, somewhere on this island. I saw him, that's why I pulled you into the alleyway and- no, you kissed me."  
  
"That I did." Jack smiled, "Glad to be of help."  
  
"Well we didn't draw his attention, right? That's got to count for something." She looked up at him drolly, "But that's what we have to keep doing, he can't know that I exist because if he does I hate to tell you, but if his memory's good he's going to know exactly who I am."  
  
"Aye, that's true. I swear, you look just like Iris." He paused, "except for the eyes, she had dark brown instead of green."  
  
"That's what everyone says, I've seen pictures too and I'd have to agree with them. She was a very cool person always ready with a story or two, and a good cup of hot chocolate or coffee... like you in that, I'd warrant, except you'd have rum instead." Alex grinned, "What with you being a pirate and all."  
  
"Born and bred, lass." Jack sighed, "It's the only way of life I know, or would want to know for that matter."  
  
"That's good because if I'm right than Arik Casio would be the one to stay clear of. Beware the man in fine brocade whose scar I've had to bear. The treasure he wants and at all cost, tis he who wants his share. He buried it not yet fear I've got for he knows what's buried there. The lass and the pirate, a match is set, now both of you take care."  
  
"You've been keeping that bit from me? Waiting until I knew the full story?" Jack inquired.  
  
"No, I didn't know that part until a minute or so ago. It was as if something in my mind turned over and I could hear her saying it, but in a memory-like, not a voice." She felt faint and much in need of sleep. "Don't be mad, will you? You don't have to come if you don't want too, I wouldn't do that to you."  
  
"Come here, lass. I made a promise and I aim to keep true to it. A fool's errand this might be, but we're not fools and if nothing else, it'll be another adventure to speak about with the crew." He pulled her close and wrapped the blanket around them to keep her warm. Her skin had gone cold and her pallor was too pale for his liking.  
  
"Thank you." She murmered before she fell asleep, "Thank you for everything, Captain."  
  
"Just Jack, love." He replied, "That and the next time you come to bed with me I guarantee it won't be just for sleeping."  
  
Authors Note: I had to add that last bit in, he's a pirate after all. It was getting a little too mushy there in the end, but another verse line was added so yay for that, right? lol 


	7. Into safety's port

Chapter 7   
Authors Note:   
Thanks to AhiFlame, always a pleasure to read your comments, mate... AND to read your stories, I know I owe you a review or two, I think. Lol. I'll go look, promise!   
Jackfan2- man, the first person I had ever spoken too on and someone I'm proud to call both Captain and friend. ;)   
Dawnie-7, I owe you such a grand verbose round of thanks!! You've reviewed pretty much every story I've written and I always look forward to reading them from you. :D :D.   
Anamaria Sparrow- rum! Yay! You've made my day, mate, and I'm so glad that you're liking the story!   
  
After a hearty breakfast of leftover stew and stale bread, which was what the bartender assured them had been the best in the Caribbean, they boarded the Pearl to wait for the rest of the crew to show up.  
  
Jack was the epitome of relaxed joviality, but Alex could tell that he wasn't as calm as he appeared. She was reminded of when Barbossa was questioning Will, Jack had been ready to step in with any explanation he could think of. That was one way they were the same, she was a major bullshit artist too and, if the situation called for it, she would be able to fashion stories at the drop of a hat.  
  
"What are you up too, Jack?" Ana asked soon as she saw the expression on his face, her eyes narrowed and he glanced to where her fist had clenched at her side.  
  
"Nothing, Ana." He replied innocently, "Had a bit too much rum last night, eh?"  
  
"I'm not drunk." She snapped, "You're planning something, aren't I right, Gibbs?"  
  
Gibbs choked on a drink of liquor not wanting to be brought into the conversation, "Seems fine to me, Ana."  
  
Anamaria shot him an aggravated stare before returning her attention to the Captain, "Don't lollygag around, what is it you have brewin' in that daft head o'yours."  
  
Cotton watched on amused as well as the rest of the crew, Alex was loath to interrupt her when she was in such a fine mood. She had backed him up towards the railing of the Pearl, jabbing a finger into his chest as she went he didn't stand a chance.  
  
"Very well!" he sighed and straightened his coat trying to keep his veneer of authority, "We, Lexa and I, are after treasure."  
  
"Another adventure" Marty remarked solidly glancing around at the rest of the crew.  
  
"Cursed treasure." Jack went on staring at each of them in turn.  
  
"Cursed..." Ana trailed off, "Hav'nt we had enough trouble with that in the past?"  
  
"Yes." Jack replied matter-of-factly, "Which is why I suggest that you and th' crew take the Pearl and meet Lexa and I in... Singapore."  
  
"We'd follow you loyally anywhere ye go, Jack Sparrow." Gibbs cut in, "But it's awful bad luck to go after treasure, especially cursed treasure, with a woman."  
  
"Beg pardon?" Ana leveled a glance in his direction that made him turn a shade paler, "And were it any other..."  
  
"I understand, mate." Jack said waving his hand in a small circle, "I figured as much which is why I already have a boat- ship-! to take us where we need to go."  
  
Alex had chosen to stay quiet, she knew Jack was handling the situation and wouldn't welcome interruption by her. It was at times like these she really wished she had a pen and paper if not to just sketch how Jack Sparrow really looked.  
  
Of course he looked like Johnny Depp, but there were certain expressions that hadn't been shown in the movie, personality traits that Verbinski and Bruckheimer hadn't planned for him to have.  
  
"Singapore?" she asked eyebrows raised.  
  
"Aye. Singapore." Jack clarified. There was unspoken agreement between the crewmembers and the Captain, they trusted his judgment and understood this was going to be a journey he wanted to partake on alone.  
  
"Safe journey, Captain." Gibbs said getting the Pearl ready to make way. "Keep the wind at your back, the sun on your face, and Singapore clear in your daft mind."  
  
"And you keep the rum coming and the wenches aplenty." Jack replied jovially, "We'll meet you there soon."  
  
They had a ship, one that could be manned by two people, but Alex wasn't sure of how they had attained said method of transportation. It had to do with them boarding the boat in broad daylight while hardly anyone was around.  
  
"Jack? Are you... commandeering... this ship?"  
  
"Aye." He replied untying one of the ropes from the dock. "That'd be exactly what we're doing."  
  
"But- won't they mind? I mean, we haven't told them that we're taking it..."  
  
"Well of course not." He untied another rope with a patient expression, "But we're not skulking around in the dead of night like common thieves, savvy? Not to mention that this really is my ship and I have full claim to it, aye?"  
  
"Alright..." Alex had lost many things herself and knew the panic involved when she had realized them gone. "Okay, this is my last objection, honest."  
  
"If we were to go plundering, or looting, would you be guilty over what's gained?" he asked her pausing before undoing the final rope.  
  
"No." Lexa remarked reasonably, "Ok maybe, it depends on who we'd pillage from."  
  
"Fine." Jack sighed unthreading a medallion from his hair, "Leave this by the house over there, does that clear your conscience?"  
  
"Yes, it does." She grinned taking the trinket and placing it near the house he had specified, "Thank you."  
  
As she walked away she could swear he muttered, "no wonder Gibbs joined the Navy."  
  
Things were easy enough after that, Jack had told her that he wanted to make one more stop before La Isla de Muerta. Alex had a theory of where that might be, but didn't say anything aloud.  
  
It was a sobering thought that though she had twenty dollars in her pants pocket, it wasn't worth anything here. It would be useful, however, if they were to be marooned on an island. Although she wouldn't burn all the rum, if there were indeed any rum there, she'd save a few bottles for the wait.  
  
There was a silver ring that she could hock if worse came to worse. Just looking at him she knew he'd never want for anything. At least nothing he could buy or barter for. There was gold hanging from his hair, a number of rings on his fingers, silver buttons on his clothes, and who knows what sorts of things he had in the pouches at his belt.  
  
She neednt have worried that her sailing and what she had learned from Jack would be put to the test. Jack was more than capable of sailing the ship by himself. The vessel couldn't be called a boat, not at all, there was a room onboard set aside for the Captain, also called the Captains Quarters, and a trapdoor that led below decks where Jack had stored food and, of course, the rum.  
  
The sails were made of a light durable material, which wasn't black but dark blue. He flew the British flag and had only seven guns total. Jack seemed confident that they wouldn't be fired upon.  
  
Since he had sailed nearly all the ocean from the Caribbean, to Singapore and England, she took his word on the matter. Weather stayed perfect to her dismay. Lexa had been looking forward to battling a wild Caribbean storm. The scene in the movie where Jack sailed the Black Pearl through the torrential downpour was one of her favorites.  
  
She had always had a thing for rain, always going to stand outside and let herself be soaked to the skin, and had wanted to jump into the screen and join them. It was a new experience every time, the purity, smell of the rain in the air was irresistible to ignore.  
  
It was a little reassuring at the same time that she wouldn't have to worry about their ship capsizing... with them in it. That was always a relatively interesting thought to ponder.  
  
She recognized where they were as she saw two skeletons hanging from coarse hemp nooses. 'Pirates Ye Be Warned' read the scrawled writing on a wooden sign above them. She took a moment with Jack to pay homage to the plight of the pirates.  
  
"Port Royale." She muttered pulling one of the sails back into place.  
  
"You've been here before?" Jack inquired curiously.  
  
"Only once." Alex replied trying to remain honest, if the movies really were another alternate reality than what she had said was true. She was surprised when Jack gave her a dark blue dress with a white and pearl adorned bodice.  
  
"Good. Put that on, you'll be a match for'em." He grinned, "No corset, bloody useless things."  
  
"I don't wear them anyway." She decided to keep her pants on underneath, the fabric was wide and loose enough so that they wouldn't be visible underneath the hoop skirts. "I'll go to the room..."  
  
"By all means." Jack waved his hand in a small circle, "Make use of anything you find inside."  
  
Although Lexa had always been rather tomboyish she had always imagined buying a dress like this one. It didn't fit in the same category with the skirts and shorts her mother would prefer she wear.  
  
Before now she had always been a 'live-in-die-in' pants type, either her jeans or black-rocker pants, which she was wearing now. She had bought them because they reminded her of Jack's from POTC.  
  
These dresses were elegant and... she stared in amazement when she looked into the mirror, in this she could pass as an English lady! Alex had left the back unlaced, it was impossible for her to tie it properly by herself. She had lost weight from when she had last seen herself though, but that had more to do with lack of food than actual exercise, although life aboard a pirate ship, that was all there was to do.  
  
There had mostly just been a diet of rum. Spiced rum, warm rum, original Caribbean rum, ale and ale... and a piece of bread or jerky on the side. She hadn't been hungry for anything, there was so much to see!  
  
Jack had left combs, brushes, and face make-up on the main bureau in the room. A dresser was nearly devoured by the many maps, guidebooks, and pieces of paper draped over every available inch. The rest of the room was furnished in a way that made jumbled-up sense.  
  
Artifacts from England were mixed with shells from oceans all around the world. A head mask with differently colored feathers hung on a wall next to a pelt of a white rabbit.  
  
The bureau was the only piece of furniture in the room that wasn't entirely covered. As she picked up a silver-gilt hairbrush to comb out the tangles and snarls in her hair she noticed a small wooden box. Curious to see what was inside, her breath hitched when she lifted the lid.  
  
A small fortune in jewels rested two inches from her grasp. There were broaches made of so many gemstones they looked like gaudy circus jewelry. There was a small diamond cross with a fine silver chain, but she bypassed that for something more tasteful.  
  
She had never branded herself with religious objects and wasn't about to start now. She had stopped going to church three years ago and didn't feel the need to ever really go back. There were, however, coins that she recognized as shillings and several pound notes that she tucked into the pocket of her pants.  
  
A flash of blue caught her attention, nestles underneath the money was an exquisite amethyst ring. The silver band was lighter than any seen before and the dark blue contrasted well with her skin. The ring also matched her necklace and Jack had said that anything in the room was at her disposal.  
  
Jack glanced up when he heard the door creak open. He couldn't help but stare. There was no trace of the pirate lass left, she looked like a true member of English nobility.  
  
He was pleased that she found the jewelry box and complimented her taste. She hadn't picked any of the ugly, oversized broaches or spinsters bracelets.  
  
The blue color suited her, her wavy-long black hair fell down her back like spun ebony. There was no extra color on her face except for the outlining of black around her eyes. She hadn't trusted the make-up, there had been stories told about the English using a lead mixture and lead equaled lead poisoning. The black kohl seemed safe enough; it was made of all natural minerals at least.  
  
"We, erm, reach port in..." he paused as the sun made an appearance over the clouds. Lexa's hair was no longer a ravens wing black, reds, oranges, and light brown was mixed in.  
  
"Jack? Are you okay?"  
  
"Never better." He assured her adjusting the wheel, "The main port is for us to keep a low profile, savvy? Because of the bloody Navy they'll all know who I am."  
  
"And they didn't before?" Lexa smiled impishly, "Surely with such a reputation as yours..."  
  
"Now I know you want something." He looked at her mock-suspiciously, "And what would that be, I wonder."  
  
"For you to lace up this dress." She turned her back for him, "Thank you so much, Jack, it's absolutely beautiful!"  
  
"Yes, well," he started gruffly, "Couldn't dock as pirates now could we. They'd have our heads in the noose faster than you could say parlay. Besides, I saw you eyeing it in that store, I just had Gibbs barter for it. He was more'n happy to oblige."  
  
"I'll have to thank Master Gibbs than next time I see him." Jack finished tying the fine white ribbons together. "Oh, and there is one more thing." She smiled tentatively, "I would have your promise that we don't do anything... reckless. From word tell it's not easy to let a Navyman walk undisturbed in the streets, but as you say, it won't do for us to be caught, right?"  
  
"Exactly." He replied grinning, "I swear on pain of death, I wond do anything... stupid. Unprovoked." He added as an afterhought.  
  
"Comforting, really." Lexa felt as if she were going to a masquerade, she felt graceful and confident in herself. It wasn't the normal feeling of 'I can put the hurt on anyone who hurts me' it was a feminine secure eeling that she had never cared about before.  
  
"As it was meant." Jack turned the wheel again and made ready to set port.  
  
"Hey, Jack?" she could see the mast of a Navy ship in the distance, "Are you going to change at all?"  
  
"Into what?" he glanced up amusedly, "Navyman, English noble, church cleric, Spanish Royal Navy?"  
  
"Oh alright!" she laughed, "Never mind. They probably won't notice anyway... so long as they're drunk."  
  
Authors Note 2: I debated whether or not to have Jack go disguised and decided not too. He's Captain Jack Sparrow, why would he hide behind another façade? Pirate captain to the soul, it would be ashame to have him unrecognized... at least for now... 


	8. Where the wind howls

Chapter 8   
Authors Note: I agree that maybe Jack should have had a disguise especially since he wanted to keep a low profile, but I couldn't bring myself to do that to him. He's a pirate captain and as such would have the pride and determination of one.  
  
Authors Note 2: Exactly how much would a sword be? I'm not all that familiar with the currency, aside from the pennies, shillings, pounds, florins, gold pieces... but how much would one of Will's rapiers cost do you think?  
  
"It's a shilling to tie up your boat on the dock, and I shall need to know your name." The dock cleric said stepping over to them.  
  
"I beg your pardon, sir." Lexa said eyes narrowed, "Were you addressing me so familiarly?" The little boy at the log-book master's side raised his eye brows in surprise.  
  
Jack hid his laughter recognizing her game. There had been a reason she asked him to change and now it seemed that she was doing her best to keep the attention focused on herself rather than him.  
  
"I-I'm terribly sorry, miss." The white-wigged man bowed, "Welcome to Port Royale."  
  
"Thank you, sir." Alexandria tipped her head regally, "I trust my ship will be taken care of?"  
  
"Most certainly, madam." He hastened to reassure her, "For a shilling 'twill be personally guarded and I'll record your name to be sure."  
  
"Very well." She procured two of the brass coins, "Lady Joan Silver, and an extra shilling for your trouble."  
  
"My thanks, miss." he bowed again, "Enjoy your stay."  
  
Jack was immensely proud of her, the cleric hadn't paid him a sliver of attention. He escorted her up the dock, and once they were out of view Lexa burst out laughing.  
  
"That was so fun!!" she spun in a small circle, "That was really the dock patrolmen! I can't believe it! I love it here!"  
  
"You make a good pirate, lass." Jack complimented.  
  
"Why thank you, Captain." Lexa curtsied pleased to see she still remembered how. She had been doing some research for a story she was writing and stumbled across a 'manners' page. They had demonstrated how to execute a perfect curtsy, which titles should be used for royalty, and the ranks aboard the ship.  
  
She had practiced curtsying until she had it perfect; a trick many of her neighbors found interesting on Halloween.  
  
"Anytime, milady." Jack assisted her up, but pulled her into the shadows of a corner when he saw a member of the Navy pass by.  
  
"Gillette." Alex hissed recognizing the man behind the uniform.  
  
"Friend?" Jack smirked knowing her answer would be the complete opposite.  
  
"Yeah right." She scoffed, "I doubt he has any, the pompous, brain-dead, jackass."  
  
"Well, good I'm glad to see that you're so emotionally inclined towards him." Jack drawled.  
  
"Emotionally inclined to hurt him." She growled.  
  
"Low profile." Jack warned jokingly.  
  
"I didn't say I was going too," she looked tempted all the same, "just that I'd want too."  
  
The coast was clear, or as clear as it could be considering the whole thing was a fortress defense barricade.  
  
"Are we going to visit the Turners?" she inquired as she and Jack kept mostly to the shadows and dodgy alleyways.  
  
"How do you know these things?" Jack asked, "You say you're from the future, but that doesn't explain how you know what happened in the past. You know things that none other would, what happened with Will and Elizabeth, for example. Which begs the question, how do you know what's happening now?"  
  
"I don't. All I know is what I've... read." She decided that was the best course of explanation, trying to tell Jack what a television was not to mention a movie would confuse him senseless. "History, it's told of some of your adventures. Not all of them, but a few."  
  
"So the Black Pearl is remembered up to the age 2004?" he seemed pleased by the thought.  
  
"Oh yes," Alex nodded, "The mutiny, Elizabeth and Will, that small island you were marooned on, Barbossa's crew, you getting the Pearl back... but much of the other tales were lost or are now told wrong."  
  
"Like what?" Jack was ecstatic with the idea that piracy had lasted through the centuries.. It was on decline now, but surely more men must have joined crews and overthrew the Royal Navy.  
  
"Your scars, for one." She listed everything she had wanted to know, things that only the fanfic writers tried to make stories for, "They don't mention how you got them, or how you became a... chief? Why you were in Singapore, the sacking of Nassau Port, the tattoo's, and anything before and after Isla de Muerta."  
  
"Then I'll have to do my best to inform you, eh?" he winked, "So the records can be corrected."  
  
"By all means." Lexa knew she'd kill for paper and ink before then even if she had to write with a quill pen and burned parchment, "But we are going to see William and Elizabeth first, right?"  
  
"He's the only swordsmith worth getting weapons from," Jack clarified, "Worth every pound, shilling, and penny."  
  
"You need a new sword?" Alex asked distracted by the sight of horses being sold. There was a black stallion, from the looks of it, and a dapple-grey she'd sell her soul to own.  
  
"No," Jack answered mentally counting the coins in his possession, "But you do."  
  
"Oh wow!" she breathed, "So I'm getting a sword made from William Turner himself!"  
  
"Aye, and here we are." Jack said looking at the familiar sign, the only thing that had changed was the name instead of J. Brown, it read W. Turner and had two swords criss-crossed under the name, the more recent version of a skull and the swords together. "Know you what that means, lass?"  
  
"Aye, the mark of a pirate, no?" she had read books and sites on pirate trademarks and logos. This had been one of them, an earlier adaptation of what the flag was now.  
  
"Very good," Jack was surprised she knew, only a few pirates knew of the symbol, most had adopted the new emblem, "Lets see if Master Turner's in, shall we?"  
  
Lexa opened the door set to meet Will, look-alike to Orlando Bloom. Sure, many girls and women for that matter, thought 'Orli' to be the hottest guy ever to grace Hollywood, but to Alex none held a flame to Johnny Depp.  
  
"Seems he's stepped out..." Jack hung his hat on the anvil and shrugged out of his coat. We'll just have to amuse ourselves until he gets back, eh?"  
  
"Hold that thought." Alex had kept her tank-top on underneath in case of situations like this. It was easy to unlace the gown, all she had to do was untie the bow at the top and loosen the laces.  
  
Jack had been examining the swords and wasn't surprised to see that Will had crafted his new trademark on the blade as well as on the very tip of the hilt. When he went to look at her to decide what sized sword would be best and had the breath halt in his lungs.  
  
"Don't look that hopeful, Captain." She stepped out of the dress and hung it carefully next to where he had put his effects. "Can't properly sword- fight in a dress, right?"  
  
"Aye..." he really tried to keep his eyes focused above her neck, but it was exceedingly difficult when he knew that all she had on was a flimsy piece of blue fabric that put anything Scarlett and Giselle wore to shame.  
  
There weren't any sleeves and the neck-line sloped downwards in a V-shape. He had never seen a shirt spun like that before and she certainly couldn't walk outside this door in that. The patrons of Port Royale would near likely have a fit and they'd be locked up for 'causing a disturbance,' considering how much skin was showing it would be quite a commotion.  
  
"Where'd you get that, love?" he asked taking one of the swords from it's place on a rack.  
  
"Home." She shrugged, "Why? Anything wrong with it?" There weren't any holes that she could see, and it want one of those extremely low-cut tank- tops that some of the girls wore. It was more of a woman's work-out shirt than anything else.  
  
"No, nothing at all." He cleared his throat, aside from the fact it was going to drive him nearly daft. Lexa shrugged and as she stood by his side saw the rapier of her dreams. There were vine like markings entwining down the blade and the hilt had silver filigree laid into the handle.  
  
What caught her eye was the peculiar shape in the very middle of the sword. It almost looked like a spade engraved into the steel. That had been one of her 'symbols' and she had planned to get a tattoo of the four card symbols as soon as she was old enough to walk into a tattoo parlor. "En guarde, Captain."  
  
"We're equals here. Just Jack, love." He fell into the fighting stance and as if on cue both blades met the other. Jack kept partially detached so he would be able to watch her style and how she handled the different attacks.  
  
She was able to counter, parry, and return most of the hits he issued. It was true that she lacked some of the experience his crew had, but there was definite potential in the way that she improvised as she went along.  
  
This was no fight to the death, and both of them enjoyed parrying without the threat of being beheaded or seriously injured. She kept her eye on the blade that Jack wielded expertly, they dueled all around the confines of the smithy.  
  
The different machines, especially the knobbed turning wheel that lay so close to the floor nearly tripped her. She remembered what the blacksmith shop looked like so it was relatively easy to keep her balance and try to upset that of her opponents.  
  
He dodged a blow aimed towards his shoulder easily and brought the flat side of the blade down across her shoulder. Surprisingly enough she dodged to the side and forced him to take a step back.  
  
Both of them froze when they heard the door creak open and William Turner stepped in.  
  
"Who the bloody hell are you?"  
  
"Erm, I'm..." she looked around and saw that Jack had ducked out of sight somewhere. "... well, Alexandria Chodas, pleased to meet you."  
  
He looked slightly taken aback that the person standing in front of him was indeed a woman, and felt instantly contrite for his choice of language. She had been wearing pants though, and with the sword brandished he felt perfectly justified in his first opinion.  
  
"Likewise, I'm sure." Will stared at her not sure where or how she had gotten there, "William Turner, at your service."  
  
"Yes, I'm sure this seems a little strange to you... what with," she glanced around in exasperation, "me being here with no apparent reason and all."  
  
"That thought had crossed my mind, exactly what were you doing?" he hadn't yet seen the coat and hat hung on the anvil, the smithy seemed virtually deserted and Lexa found herself wondering just where exactly Jack had gone.  
  
"Preparing to buy a sword." She brushed hair back out of her face and hoped she didn't look like a complete street urchin. "How much would this one be?"  
  
"Fifty pounds, that's not one of the better ones, mind you. The gold-inlaid ones go for nearly eighty, and any extra markings are ten pounds per inch."  
  
"You can't mind young Will, lass." Jack said appearing near the fire, the flames sent red and orange shadows across his face. A better entrance she couldn't have planned, he swaggered towards them with the familiar 'ace-up- his-sleeve' expression in place. "He undersells them all to the fine, honorable patrons of Port Royale."  
  
"Jack?" Will looked a mix of surprise and horror, "What're you doing here?"  
  
"Helping the lass buy a sword, surely that was clear?"  
  
"Well, certainly, but- wait- you know him, miss?"  
  
"Alex'll do just fine, and yes I do. He's the one that brought me here."  
  
"Did he now." Will and Jack looked at one another meaningfully, Lexa had no clue as to what they were both agreeing on, "And what is it that you bargained with him?"  
  
"A tankard of rum and a lesson in sailing." She said not sure whether or not to give up the real reason.  
  
"In return for?" Will inquired.  
  
"An adventure." Lexa smiled, "And you said fifty pounds, did you not?" she held out the correct amount of pound notes and coins.  
  
"You had money?" Jack asked.  
  
"Pirate." She smiled looking over at Jack. It seemed those were the fateful words, a knock sounded at the door signaling a customer.  
  
"Mister Turner?" and apparently this customer was one of the most powerful men in Port Royale. It was the Commodore, and from the tone of voice he spoke in this was not a good time to try his patience, "William Turner?"  
  
The doorknob turned and they heard the familiar sound of wood creaking as it opened... 


	9. through the ghostly trees

Chapter 9  
  
Jack and Lexa ducked into a small closet in the nick of time. They were able to hear the Commodore and Will as they spoke, but they stayed ready in case a quick escape was necessary.  
  
"What brings you to the smithy this fine day?" Will asked clearly flustered, he pulled a sword from its resting place among the embers to hide his nervousness.  
  
"This fine day?" Jack whispered, "Bloody eunuch."  
  
"I heard voices." James said, they heard his footsteps echo around the room.  
  
"He hears voices," Lexa remarked, "Good, I'm not the only one."  
  
"Did you." Will paused, "That's not unusual, I usually to talk to myself as I work. It's very relaxing, you understand."  
  
"I heard a woman's voice."  
  
"Well, this is a woman's sword." Will replied as if it made all the sense in the world.  
  
"Are you telling me that this sword spoke?" Both Lexa and Jack snorted at that, the question was just so dense!  
  
"No, Commodore, but a sword is just as temperamental as a woman so I sing and it makes the steel all the more malleable." Will hummed a few bars from an apparently terrible song.  
  
"Horrible singing voice, I've changed me mind. He'd make a dismal eunuch." Jack sighed as if deeply disappointed.  
  
"And I suppose that here," they heard the footsteps stop in front of their hiding place, "Is just storage space?"  
  
"Yes, that's all it is." Will kept the panic out of his eyes and cursed himself for not listening to Brown when he said the closet should be larger.  
  
"Better to be taken trying than doing naught at all." Lexa had stood and she swiftly opened the door and closed it before Jack could be seen. She had the sword in her hands and had been sure to wipe a line of dirt across her cheek.  
  
The Commodore's bluish gray eyes widened as he took her appearance in. There had been no time to change back into the dress and it was a sure thing that Norrington had never seen such an outfit in his life.  
  
"I found it, sir!" she said triumphantly holding the sword high looking meaningfully at Will. "It was there, just as you said it would be."  
  
"I'm sorry, miss, but-." James said staring at the woman who had earlier in the day been dressed all in black, the attire of a pirate now that he thought on it.  
  
"No apologies necessary." She said cheerfully avoiding any forced explanation he'd ask, "I found my place here. I'm apprenticing to Master Turner. He's taken me in and pays me fair wages until I'm of age to open my own shop."  
  
"So you work here... alone, with William Turner?" the Commodore raised his eyebrows in Will's direction.  
  
"Aye," she said bringing the sword to Will and pulling her dress from the peg managing to conceal Jack's hat and jacket underneath. "He's a happily married man, and if he hadn't helped me I'd be out on the streets, as it were. There's not anything wrong is there, Commodore?"  
  
"No, not at all." James said faintly trying to process all she had said, "I suppose no proper chaperone would be needed... so long as you were home before dark and-"  
  
"I knew you'd understand." She forced a happy doe-look upon her face, "As soon as I make enough I plan to head for London, my aunt lives there and she would be happy to welcome me. My mother provided the money, but I was robbed short of here. I managed to stow away on one of the ships..."  
  
"Which explains why you thought I'd arrest you." James supplied, he found himself admiring the girl's fortitude and was loathe to pass judgment on her means of making a living.  
  
"Precisely." She took a blacksmith tool, which looked as if it might be some use, and handed it to Will, "You requested... this, for the sword?"  
  
William played along and took the offered steel-hammer trying not to damage the sword with it.  
  
"I see all is in order here." The Commodore looked around as if expecting something to jump out of the shadows, "I'll take my leave and bid you all good day."  
  
"Pleasure to see you again." She made to curtsey, but realizing how ridiculous that would look considering her pants, she bowed instead.  
  
James was amused by her wit and vowed to check on her again within the next few weeks. He had means to support her or at the very least provide safe passage on one of his ships. Propriety demanded that he wait before making the offer for he wouldn't want to scare her off with the suggestion.  
  
As soon as the door creaked shut again she heaved a sigh of relief and looked to the sword Will had lightly been hammering. "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't ruin it?"  
  
"No, not at all." Will didn't dare pick the sword up, he knew it would be slightly curved at the end. A little work would have it right as rain, and there was no need for her to know it.  
  
Jack emerged from the closet with an expression of wonder on his face. "I think I underestimated you, lass. That was bloody well-thought out, couldn't have done better meself." The last was said with the traditional pirate grin she knew all too well.  
  
"Why thank you, Captain, but thought-out it wasn't, we're just lucky we weren't caught." She tried not to show how much his praise meant, "Oh, and here are your effects."  
  
"Yes, and brilliantly done that." Will remarked, "She got them while taking her dress from over there." He motioned to the anvil, "I think Norrington's a little taken with her."  
  
"Oh no, that's impossible. There's no way!" Lexa objected.  
  
"There'd bloody well not be a way!" Jack said softly. "You make a good piratelass not a sophisticated, coiffed, brainless Navyman's wife,"  
  
Will heard the words register but didn't get the full meaning until he replayed them in his mind. Could it be? Was Jack Sparrow serious about this woman? He reassessed Lexa from Jack's point of view, or at least tried his best too.  
  
Even by Will's standards Alex was a good match for the pirate captain. She had spirit, courage, and was obviously willing to risk her life for him. There was an aspect about her that reminded Will of Jack. The same live-for- the-thrills that got Jack into more trouble than was warranted.  
  
It would be interesting to see how things turned out, whether the two of them would end up killing each other, or if maybe Jack found an equal partner, and lover, in her. It was presumptuous to already have them in wedded bliss considering the great many women Jack knew on Tortuga, but with Alex he saw a different side of Jack Sparrow than was normally allowed to show.  
  
"No worries, Captain." She laughed, "I don't fancy becoming the trophy wife of the Commodore, as nice as he was. He'll make a good husband one day, but not for me. I'm more inclined towards pirates anyway."  
  
The look Jack and Lexa shared was more than enough proof for Will. If he wasn't far from the mark he'd say that they were already well along the road to true attachment and eventually dare he say love?  
  
Not to mention how Lexa kept using phrases that Will normally associated with Jack. Not only that, but the captain didn't seem to mind. Why, she didn't even seem to realize her use of them. Everytime she did Jack noticed, his eyes lit up and he looked immensely amused.  
  
It was well known that pirates didn't fall in love much less seek it out, but Jack Sparrow wasn't any ordinary pirate. He wasn't one to obey any rules, society's or otherwise, and why shouldn't he find some happiness? Will had originally thought he and Anamaria were lovers, but a smack later he was forced to the conclusion they were just friends.  
  
"Make sure to pass word on to Elizabeth, mate." Jack said putting his hat back on and securing the cutlass and pistol to his belt.  
  
"I will, Jack. You both take care, no time for heroic rescues today." Will smiled remembering the way Jack had left Port Royale the last time.  
  
"No, I doubt Elizabeth'd appreciate that much." Jack looked thoughtful, "Making up'd be interesting, I imagine."  
  
"Leave that to me." Will shook his head at Jack's line of thought, "take care of the sword, Alex. Come visit again, leave Jack sailing though, aye?"  
  
"I'd try." Lexa winked, "But he'd just follow and worry a few of the Navy along the way..."  
  
"Smart girl." Jack put his arm around her waist and bowed, "Good day, William."  
  
Alex had put the dress back on and once out the back way of the smithy she asked Jack to lace up the ribbons again.  
  
"That's the second time today I've had to lace up this dress, the next time I swear I'll have done something to help remove said dress."  
  
"We have to worry about getting out of here, with the ship intact, before there's any time for wagers." Her eyes glittered mischievously.  
  
"No, love. That wasn't a wager that was a promise. Along with the other few I've made you."  
  
"Oh!! I forgot something, I'll be right back, aye?" she raced back into the blacksmith shop nearly tripping over the hoop skirt on the way. "Will?"  
  
"Forget something?" William asked pausing in the examination of the sword that had to be straightened.  
  
"Yes, the next time the Commodore stops in... pass this along to him. Make sure you tell him that the woman in red at the fourth house... pretty woman, red hair was eyeing him. But make sure you give this to him from me. Tell him I appreciate all his help and that I was sorry I didn't have a chance to make further acquaintance with him."  
  
Will took the fine silver ring with a twisting design shaped like a vine on the outside link. "I will. You have a good heart, Alex."  
  
"So do you." She smiled and then went back out to where Jack was waiting.  
  
"Everything in order?" he asked adding a small clinking bag to his belt.  
  
"Perfectly." Lexa stared out at the horizon in the distance and wondered what it had in store for them. Was there anymore to the puzzle, what awaited them on Isla de Muerta? The island shaped like a skeleton's head, nothing good could possibly come their way. But she was with Captain Jack, notorious rogue pirate, and she was Lexa Chodace, a 20th century woman recently turned buccaneer.  
  
Surely between the two of them they could break the spell, or curse, whatever it was and emerge from this adventure still breathing. Well, there was always the comforting thought that if she died here in the Caribbean, she would die well armed and happy... 


	10. And echoes back from the horizon

Chapter 10   
Authors Note: reading fanfic stories online always brings about a touch of sadness. Part because most of them are truly amazing and I wonder if I'll ever measure up. Or because of all the ideas out there and mine just being another one in the pot. Whatever it is it makes me want to write, to become better... so this might be a philosophical chapter, depends on the mood as it goes along.  
  
The sea was calm, tranquil in its beauty. Jack steered the ship having taken over from Lexa when she looked too tired to stand properly. They were only a month or so away from Isla de Muerta and there was plenty of time to be spent talking.  
  
He should have commandeered rights to the wheel before now, but she had insisted that she was fine and could go last a bit longer. Jack would never forget the look on her face as she steered the ship through the blue-green waters.  
  
There was wonder, excitement, and the call of the ocean in her eyes. It was a look he knew all too well, he was only glad to have found someone who understood it as well as she. Her untamed spirit seemed to flourish even more every day that passed. The weight that had brought seriousness to her expression and the look of someone who didn't quite belong was gone.  
  
All he had to do was look over at her, she had refused to go below decks to sleep. With his help two hammocks had been strung up on deck so she could fall asleep with the salted wind blowing gently around her and the sound of the waves hitting the wood of the ship.  
  
A sound she knew she'd never forget, it brought sadness to her heart to think about retuning and never hearing it again. Nothing would ever equal the purity, the untarnished version of being on a real pirate ship with only the wind to guide them. No mechanical gears or global satellite tracking here.  
  
She couldn't sleep and watching Jack made a bubble of happiness rise through her heart. Now he was the epitome of pirate, he didn't know she was studying him. She only wished that she had been born a better drawer or painter so she could capture the way he looked at this very moment.  
  
He had abandoned the heavy black brocaded jacket for just a simple white- cuffed shirt and the black pants. They looked newer, not so creased with salt and wrinkles like the ones he had dueled her in were. He looked as untamed and wild as the sea itself, his eyes were closed against the night's wind and his hands were resting gently on the wheel of the ship.  
  
Such power and grace in the stance she knew she'd be content if she never moved from this spot again. Whether he be sword fighting, drinking rum in a tavern, or wooing the women, there was a part of Jack Sparrow he kept hidden from everyone. How she came privy to seeing it was beyond her, but she knew that it was something he not readily showed to others.  
  
He didn't just love the ocean he was part of it. Then he shifted gaze from his horizon and saw her staring at him. She wasn't even aware that he knew until he rigged the wheel and she heard the clanking of the trinkets in his hair.  
  
"What is it, love?" he asked gently coming to kneel down on one knee next to her. He saw the shine in her luminous eyes and wondered what she was thinking to look so sad.  
  
"Just you, Jack." She smiled softly and picked up the gold coin in his hair. "What's that from?"  
  
"the first chest of treasure I ever found." She sat up careful not to upset the hammock and moved over so that he could sit down beside her. Jack had other plans, he helped her to her feet and lay down, then helped her lay with him. The hammock stretched easily enough for two people and she had never felt so safe or protected as she did now.  
  
"So everything you have has symbolic value?" she inquired. Jack had never realized how musical her voice was, he could have seen her face easily enough if he wanted too, but not being distracted by the long black lashes over her eyes or the softness of her skin brought out the almost song-like quality to her speech.  
  
"Nearly." He replied, "the treasure chest wasn't very large but it was mine. I had found it, all of the pirates in the crew had been searching and it was my shovel that struck wood. I picked the lock and the captain let me have first choice of what I wanted." He paused remembering the thrill he felt when the lid was opened to reveal gold pieces and a few gems of monetary value.  
  
"A pirate from the beginning." She turned the coin over in the moonlight so that it shone with an other-worldly quality.  
  
"That's it." Jack agreed, "And that was the start of my saving everything that meant something to me. Like these," he showed her the strand of silver and brass coins that were strung together, "First raid, the gentleman aboard dropped them in his haste to run for cover. I picked them up and though there were other things worth saving, these were what caught my eye."  
  
When he spoke she felt the vibration from his chest reverberate against her shoulder. His voice was husky from rum, deep and had the sound of a true story-teller. Though she had no doubts that what he told her was all truth, she saw him in a crowded tavern spinning his magic throughout the crowd until everyone was silent and hanging on to his every word.  
  
"What is this?" he noticed the spark of silver on her arm and twisted the bracelet so that the bracelet was clearly visible.  
  
"I've been collecting since I was small." She was glad she had been wearing the charm bracelet as she made the wish, "Sort of what you did with the ornaments in your hair, everything on here means something."  
  
"A story for a story?" Jack proposed the game.  
  
"Sure." She agreed to the terms.  
  
"Good, I've already told two, the participant can't not let that go without participating and offering two stories of her own, or the participation betweenst the two is over. After all participated stories have been shared the partaking is equal, savvy?"  
  
"I savvy." Lexa had actually followed along and she felt Jack laugh as he turned the bracelet to pick one.  
  
"A spade?" he recognized the familiar card symbol and was curious as to why she had one decorating the bracelet.  
  
"Oh that's easy." She sighed, "But rather foolish too."  
  
"Not more than a certain story involving sea turtles." Jack grinned, "Don't be embarrassed."  
  
"For nearly every year of school I had a symbol. One year it was the treble clef, another year it was an A surrounded by vines that connected them all. Two years ago it was a spade and I haven't been able to drop it so easily as the others. My plan was to eventually get a tattoo of a spade, club, diamond, and heart right here." She showed him the place on her hand above the expanse of skin where the index and thumb finger met.  
  
"Card-shark, eh?" Jack grinned, he'd have to challenge her to a game one night.  
  
"I try." She knew how to play pretty much any card game; rummy, poker, spades, palace, casino, hearts, bull-shit, uno, blackjack... the list went on and on.  
  
"And this one?" he pointed to a dog-fashioned silver charm.  
  
"My first dog, when I was thirteen my parents got a golden retriever and we named him Buddy. He died a few years ago, we got another dog, but I wanted to always remember him."  
  
"You had a dog as a pet?" Jack asked, "That lived with you, you mean?"  
  
"Yes, a lot of people do. Cats, birds, but in our house it was dogs."  
  
"Whatever suits you." He was remembering the dog from Port Royale's jail, filthy, slimy, mangy, cad.  
  
"Good philosophy." She too had thought of the little incident with the key, "Why is there a... bone-? in your hair?"  
  
"Ah, now we get to the scars." Jack rolled up his sleeve and she saw the long reddish-white wound from the deleted scenes category. "My first sword fight, he was twice my age and more experienced than a lad like me, I killed him but he nearly took from me any chance of ever being a pirate."  
  
"Why were you fighting him?"  
  
Jack shrugged clearly not comfortable with the topic, "I had too.  
  
"For honor or revenge?" Lexa prompted when he made no further move to explain.  
  
"Nothing that extraordinary." He leaned back and put his hands behind his head, "It was for the virtue of my sister. A sailor straight from the ocean thought any of the women in the tavern were fair game. He would desist so I was challenged to a duel."  
  
"Wait a second." She thought she had heard wrong, "He was warned so you were challenged to a duel?"  
  
"Welcome to the Caribbean, love." He sarced, "Where weapons of choice are swords and only death signals the end."  
  
"And he, the man you had to fight, caused the scar?" she traced the outline looking at it through new eyes. The healed wound appeared to have been caused by a burning hot sword, at least that had been her explanation for it, but instead she saw the ragged edges as if he had been cut more than once.  
  
Jack could remember how many times the surgeon had to open the would again to remove toxins from the blood. It was either that or risk losing all feeling in the extremity. Jack hadn't allowed them to even think the word amputation, he would have sold his soul to become a pirate and no injury was going to stop him from it.  
  
"Aye. But my sister was left alone ever after."  
  
"Where is she now?" Lexa had only placed Jack with a sibling in one of her stories, the rest had portrayed him to have made his way up to Captain by will-power and determination alone.  
  
"Clara?" he sighed deeply as if pained, "She married a Navyman."  
  
"But she's happy?"  
  
"Very happy, and wanting nothing more to do with pirates."  
  
"Oh god." She whispered feeling the outrage and pain he must have felt when the sister he had risked everything for didn't acknowledge the fact he was still alive, "I'm so sorry, Jack."  
  
"No worries." He surprised them both and kissed her on the forehead, "Don't hold yourself accountable for that which you had no control over."  
  
To break the silence that followed she was careful and turned slightly so that she could put one arm across his waist. It was much more comfortable for them and Jack wondered why he hadn't ever thought of bringing a woman aboard a ship just to converse before. Most likely because they were busy doing other things conversation not coming to mind.  
  
"But the bone?"  
  
"From his arm," Jack's expression had darkened and Alex could see the formidable pirate that had faced survived the injury and still managed to win. "He died during surgery so I took part of the bone the doctor offered me in jest."  
  
"Jack?" she was looking to the horizon again, but not to admire its beauty. There were white sails unfurled against the early morning sky. It was still quite dark out, but the clouds of night had parted to make way for the golden-red that would bring Apollo's chariot across the sky.  
  
"You might want to change back into a dress, love." Jack sighed as he helped her from the hammock and then followed suit. "Looks as if the Navy's patrolling."  
  
"Might it be the Commodore's ship?" she asked in the room she had used to change in before.  
  
"Nay," Jack shook his head while donning a crisp white shirt, "The ship wasn't large enough, and the way some of the men hung on the rigging signifies that they aren't as professionally qualified as their Captain might like."  
  
"Disappointed, love?" he glanced at her inconspicuously as she stepped into a ruby-colored dress.  
  
"Not one whit." she held out an arm loving how the sleeves tapered and hung down her wrists, it seemed to be more renaissance based than a mid seventeenth century gown. "I was just curious to see whether or not I should stay Alexandria Chodace, or if I should become Joan Silver again."  
  
"I doubt if the Navy'll pull us over we're flying the British flag, more's the pity." he growled remembering the Black Pearl's banner.  
  
"There's only two of us," Lexa pointed out turning her back for Jack to lace the back again, "I don't know how to man the guns anyway."  
  
"What did I tell you about these bloody ribbons?" he tried not to notice how the bodice sloped forward until it was pulled tight.  
  
"You said the other dress, Captain." Lexa grinned mischievously, "This one is entirely different."  
  
"Serves the same point and purpose, doesn't it." and he had just spent the entire night with her in a hammock too...  
  
"They're going to attack, aren't they." She said watching the blue and red flag lowered to be replaced by a black background with a white skeleton.  
  
"No, they only see two people onboard, not enough for trouble. They'll try to take the ship."  
  
"But we won't let them?" she wondered if maybe Jack planned to commandeer the other ship out from under them.  
  
"Bloody right, this may not be the Pearl, but she's still my ship. No other blasted pirates are going to take what's mine." He rigged the wheel in place and waited for them to pull up next to him.  
  
"What do you want me to do, Captain?"  
  
"Nothing," Jack replied watching the SeaBird come closer, "Now, we wait." 


	11. Like the empty rattling

Chapter 11

And so they waited, waited while the ship pulled closer, waited as the two pirate captains faced one another with the crew's weapons ready to fire at the slightest provocation. Alex kept the pistol ready to defend Jack should the occasion call for it, although there wasn't much she could do against the sixty men they faced.

Jack swept his hat off in shock, the other captain followed suit with the same rapt expression on his face. It seemed as if he had seen a ghost and received an anticipated present at the same time.

"Captain Jack Sparrow?"

"Re- _Captain_ Reynald Sanders?" Both shook hands all hostility banished.

"What in the blazes are you doing on a Navy ship? Another of your adventurous excursions?"

Jack glanced up at the British flag flying from the crows nest now this could have been embarrassing had he been a lesser man. He knew from experience that the outer image wasn't the one that mattered, it helped, a lot in some cases, but it wasn't everything.

"Can't teach a sea dog new tricks." Jack grinned.

"You can when that dog has aces hidden up his sleeve."

"But what of you? Fine vocabulary, excellent grammar, and captain of your own ship!"

"Leaned from the best." Rey grinned, "Aye, 'twas a long time in coming and a near-miss at that.

"That arm healed right up." Jack nodded in approval, "Firing a pistol, wielding a sword... no doubt servicing all needs."

"And then some." Reynard's amythest colored eyes sparkled, "This, gents, is Captain Jack Sparrow, true pirate and rogue of the sea to boot." His crew had long since lowered their weapons most of them were staring in admiration. "Training a new lass, eh? To be a pirate that is."

"Lexa Chodace, pleased to meet you." There had been no amusement in the last part of his sentence so she didn't take it in any way other than he had intended.

"Likewise, I'm sure." He shook her outstretched hand hiding his grin at the way she met his like men did. Alike as the two might seem in appearances they were complete opposites.

Reynard had eyes as blue as the ocean and hair bleached golden from the sun. He was tanned, but more muscularly emphasized rather than Jack's lean frame. The clothes, he definitely was one of those pirates she had read about in which they adorned themselves in brocade and silk, she might almost take him as an English gentleman had she seen him somewhere on the street.

"As to the training," Jack put an arm around her waist, "This one knows all she needs to know. Except for navigating, of course, but that's improving..."

"He'll never fail you," Rey said proudly, "Took two bullets for me, he did. Let me get to safety saying it was his duty as Captain. East India took him 'fore I could do more'n get the crew together again. Thought that'd be the last time we'd see him again, after all no one else's ever gotten away from the Company once they're taken, but there he was less'n a fortnight later drinking up on Tortuga."

Lexa noticed how Reynard's drawl became more pronounced as he spoke faster, she could almost believe he was from somewhere in the south, but knew it was impossible. The United States wasn't close to being united and it was still being called 'the New World.' Land of savagery.

"Took two bullets and a brand..." Lexa trailed off. The rest of the mystery was solved now she knew where the wounds on his shoulder came from and confirmed the East India tale.

Reynard looked at her strangely when she muttered something softly to herself, he was reminded poignantly of when Jack stood at the wheel and spoke quietly in a language only he understood.

She seemed the most unlikely candidate to have caught Jack's eye, the Captain usually preferred the blonde, soft, biddable women of the tavern. This one looked, well, not like them at all.

Her long black hair was left loose to blow in the ocean's breeze and her eyes were outlined in dark, much like the kohl Jack used. The shirt was tied around a slim waist and left loose so that her upper body was left to the imagination. Pants accentuated long slender legs that ended in boots unlike anything he'd ever seen before.

No corset to further endow what women were born with, nor were there any 'come hither' looks that Scarlett's women bestowed on him whenever they stepped onto Tortuga.

She stood taller than most of them, at what he'd estimate to be around five foot seven he could tell that she was more than proficient in sword-dueling. Jack always had been interested in women not fitting the general mold.

The one woman who was no doubt manning the Pearl, Anamaria was her name, he had let her onboard without a second question. She instantly became his first-mate seeing as none of the men wanted to cross her at her command.

He often wondered if she had been a runaway slave or something to that nature because her skin was dark and she had the ferocity of a caged tiger. The claws of one too for that matter, he still had the scar from her wrath.

"So we'll leave this ship and go to claim another prize." Rey grinned shaking Jack's hand again. This was his first mentor, friend, and Captain. A lot of what he knew now could be accredited to this man.

"Much obliged."

"Aye, hope to see you again sometime." Lexa would be sad to see him go, he seemed to be an interesting person and she would have been glad to see what other stories there were to tell.

"I'm sure." Rey had his men go back to the ship, "Heed the wind..."

"And let the ship guide you." Jack finished watching the off-white sails unfurl in the wind. Reynard was gone shortly after that only the trail in the water to mark his ever having been there.

"Should I wait until tonight to ask you how you knew him?" Alex watched Jack check the clouds for signs of weather. Nothing so far, many days had passed, she had lost track of time, but no storms as of yet.

"No, tonight I have other things planned." There was no mistaking Jack's meaning, she had known this topic would be breached sooner or later. She just didn't have enough courage to start the conversation herself.

"Jack-"

"You said you weren't afraid." Jack pointed out.

"I'm not. Afraid of you, I mean. But there are other complications..."

"Are you a- that is, do you prefer wom-?"

"No!" she said her cheeks turning bright red, "It's just that I don't know if there are any contraceptives here in this time period. I don't want to have any children yet. Not until I'm thirty, or older."

"Until you're thirty!" Jack had no idea what contraceptive meant except to say that it sounded as if she wouldn't welcome any advances. He'd honor her decision, trying to change her mind of course, but he wouldn't press the matter.

"When I get with child." She said meeting his eyes, "That doesn't mean I don't want to, you know, be with you."

"Oh." His mind went around the topic trying to figure out what in the blazes she meant. "Oh!! Scarlett and Giselle... I understand now, love." Jack laughed, "You mean what a man can do so that you won't-"

"Exactly." She said pleased that she wouldn't have to explain, "Yes, that's what I meant."

"What did you think? That I have a litter of bastard children spanning the Caribbean?"

"You wouldn't have been the first." Lexa snorted, "Men walk out on their children in the twentieth century, what would stop them from doing it in the seventeenth?"

"Nothing." Jack said seriously, "But that doesn't mean all men are like that, nor do all of us _want_ children. It's not a nice surprise when one steps into a tavern and is met with a lad claiming you're his father. I try to avoid that hence my knowledge of Scarlett's remedy."

"A potion?" Lexa was more than glad to accept him at his word, but if it was a potion sold to get men to shell out their money...

"No. Something women use, but for the fact they... experimented... and had it altered a little. She's been ruling Tortuga from the tender age of ten and seven, she hasn't had one child yet."

"How old is she now?"

"Nearing the later twenties," Jack grinned, "Almost time for her to have one, eh?"

"So maybe twelve years then and no child... you're really sure it works then?"

"Aye, I might be known across the ocean for my pirating ways, but I can guarantee that it not be for children left behind." His eyes darkened at the thought, "You believe me, aye?"

"I do." She said with no doubts left, if he promised that nothing unwarranted would happen she'd take his word.

"Good, but don't be taking the word of a pirate too readily next time." He warned, "Only looking for their own satisfaction, 's different with me, however..."

"And why's that?" she teased.

"Because I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, lass."

"How could I have forgotten." She laughed, "I'm terribly sorry, won't happen again."

"I'll bloody well make sure of that." He took a few steps closer relieved to see that she didn't back away. Lexa stood her ground as he closed the space between them. Only the widening of her eyes told him how apprehensive she might be.

"Jack?" she inquired disconcerted at how he was staring at her.

"Not afraid, eh?"

"No," she raised her chin stubbornly, "I'm not."

"Good." He bent his head to kiss her and all further thoughts were forgotten. Jack Sparrow always kept his promises.


	12. Of skeletal bones

Chapter 12

Authors Note: I've chosen not to write exactly went on between them because I think it'd kill the mood of the story. It would become too serious and the tone I've started writing it in would evaporate. I don't want this to be a fire-and-brimstone kinda story where everything's serious and philosophical. I kinda wanted this to follow the style in which Gore Verbinski and Jerry Bruckheimer did POTC...

The Black Pearl rocked lightly back and forth in the quiet of the night, the wooden planks shifted softly as the waves lulled Jack and Lexa to sleep. She was lying with him in the bed located within the Captains Quarters.

Jack had studiously avoided that room preferring instead to keep hammocks strung up so there wasn't a door and a half between them. It had just seemed awkward to insist she hole up in that little room, not to mention he didn't think she'd take well to the idea anyway.

She never could have imagined it would have been so... right. Reading all the romance stories, writing about it, nothing could have prepared her for how it really was. Not magical or gentle, it reminded her completely of the ocean.

Jack had been so careful, worried that he might scare her and making sure that she was ready before doing anything else. She also knew that she'd never be able to write another fanfic with him in it, he meant too much to her to trap on a piece of paper for the world to read.

"You know?" Jack said , "From here, it's only around two days journey to Isla de Muerta."

"Two days? That's it? Really. That's... interesting."

"Aye, very interesting. However," he held up a hand, "You spoke about wanting to get an ink. And there's a place right before then that does'em for not much cost."

"An ink?" she asked curiously liking the way candlelight brought out the gold in his eyes.

"A..." he gestured towards the tattoo of a bird flying over the sun. "This, what do you call them?"

"Tattoo's, but an ink? How do they do them?" she knew it couldn't possibly be with sterilized needles and different color injecting pens.

"They make the design with a colored piece of metal, then as the wound heals you'll have a permanent scar, drawn as you like it." He frowned a little, "You might not want one so large as this."

"I'd agree." She said laughing nervously, it wasn't that she was afraid of the pain, no, hardly that, but a colored piece of metal? And, alright, pain was becoming a slight issue. "Jack, how did you... survive... the procedure?"

"Lots of rum, love." He sighed deeply, "I was out for a day or so after, and..." He saw her point, it would hardly do for her to be incapacitated. "Ah, yes, so then on the trip back, eh?"

"We have an accord." She wouldn't have to think about this for awhile, although she was open to the idea, she didn't much relish the thought of someone bearing a cold sharpened piece of metal anywhere near her arm.

"_You've found your way, and here it stays, the treasure it still waits. Ahead or behind, mind the time, or else find the wine twas mine. There's still the chance, don't forsake romance, brocade has started the dance. Keep together, through stormy weather, and stop the man with hawk's sage feather_."

"Where did that come from?" she asked replaying the verse in her mind.

"I... don't know." Jack replied staring at her in shock, "Twas like you tried to explain before, when you didn't know where the words were from. 's exactly like that, excepting I was able to decipher what it meant.

"She's big on rhyming, isn't she." Alex sorted through what they had so far, then saying the last part out slowly so Jack would understand too.

"Seems she was also keen on you finding me, and starting the romance, so to speak." He ran his hand through his hair distractedly,

"And what was that part about wine? Dreadfully hard to come by here, right? I read that most drink rum, gin, or if they're travelers stick with ale or in worse case bilge water and rum. But then there's-"

"Lexa-"

"No, no one's bought water, who would buy water here when you can get rum? Right? Because water's just-"

Jack was torn between wanting to laugh and then kiss her. So he did, just laughed afterwards as she blinked as if coming out of a trance.

"Sorry, a little nervous breakdown there, I'm fine, really."

"You've a right to be a little frightened-"

"Hey, hey. Frightened?" she objected.

Jack raised his eyebrow contradicting her, "You're not, then?"

"No." she glared, "Hardly. What am I scared of? A cave? What, we find what we need too and put it to rights. Avoid Arik, don't touch any of the cursed gold, and do all of this before the next full moon. Apart from Arik, it shouldn't be too complicated, right?"

"This is Isla de Muerta, love." Jack's expression took on one of inner thought and less-than-fond memories, "You're not the same once you step inside, and even worse if you try to leave before they let you."

"Who?" she caught the 'spirits and ghosts' tone in his voice.

"Who?" Jack was caught off guard, not meaning to have revealed so much. "There's a reason why no one finds that island, excepting those who've already been there. The whole of it's cursed, obscured by fog, and guarded by spirits of Cortes' men."

"So a Lord of the Rings type cave, eh?" she dismissed the thought at Jack's look of confusion. "Never mind, do the spirits actually show themselves?"

"Not that I've heard." Jack crossed his arms trying to recall any of the crew, or former crew, speaking of such a matter.

"Well good, so we don't disturb them, and get out of there alive... no worries, aye?"

"Aye, no worries."

Neither of them noticed the tendril of fog that wrapped itself around the ships wheel and then towards the doorknob of the captains room. Both drifted off to sleep with the mist climbing over the windowpane curling up across the wood to linger possessively on the glass.


	13. A melody unlike any other

Chapter 13

Authors Note: The lucky Chapter 13. hehehe. I dunno, anyway, GothicGuardian threatened no more updates till I update this one. YIKES!! So here 'tis. The next chapter of this story and I promise to update more regularly. I've just learned the new layout of things at school, which teachers pay attention and those who don't. So my writing time in all of these will be measured and exacted so that in comp. Class I can update again. Yay!

Lexa wanted to say something, but the atmosphere practically begged her not too. They were headed to the inlet where Cortes' gold was hidden- at least she assumed so. It was foggy and seemed like a veil of mourning had been dropped for all the sailors whom had been claimed by the treacherous passage.

She found herself craving a CD player, radio, or even the background music of the movie. Instead, she got the quiet lap of waves against the side of the ship, and heaviness of clouds in the sky.

There was no customary grin or swagger to Jack's movements. Just the occasional turn of the wheel or a glance to his compass. Alex did nothing to divert his attention, just seeing how close they came to coral lodged panic deep in her mind.

Jack knew what he was doing, and though she no longer yearned paper or ink, she wanted some way of remembering all of this when she went home...

Home. Would she go back? There might be no way to ever return to this time period of the Caribbean, and she knew that life in 2004, going to this exact spot and remembering everything, would destroy her. She had never considered herself dim-witted to fall head-over-heels for a guy, but this situation was different.

There might be little things she missed, MP3 player, Internet, the wonderful creators of 'Always' products, and she'd never see a rerun of Angel or Buffy again, yet none of that equaled to what she had here. Here, for one of the first times in her life, she actually felt she belonged somewhere without feeling awkward or out of place.

'Till full moon doth rise', that gave them about two days before the curse would be put to an end. And they would not, could not, fail. She owed that much, no, not even owed, she _needed_ to see the curse broken for her aunt.

"There's no one else here..." she said half to herself as she remembered the other parts of Iris' warning. She had been worried about the curse and Arik's part to play, but since he didn't know how to get to the island...

"No, but we'll keep to the reefs just to be sure." Jack knew of three ways to enter the caves and had a small boat stowed away, but he didn't much like the idea of leaving this one so vulnerable to attack.

"Of course," Alex agreed, she had no ken on how or where they were going so whatever decision Jack made was more than fine by her.

She looked down into the dark waters and instantly paled while pulling back from the side. This was no man-made constructed prop. She had to keep remembering that, the cave had most likely been around hundreds of years withstanding all elements, why had she felt so safe?

"Um, Jack?" confident now that they wouldn't end on the ocean's floor, the had passed the lagoon with all of the ships parts' skeletons blurred by the waters movements.

She had tried to keep her voice calm, he, however, had heard the faint tremor disguised in his name. As he looked up in curiosity she took a deep breath and looked back over the rail of the ship.

"Those wouldn't happen to be sharks down there, right? Surely not in a cave..."

"Erm-" he remembered her not-so-little moment of panic when she'd seen the dorsal fin of one in the ocean, "Well-"

"They are, I knew it!" her eyes blazed in anger, "And eels too, I bet."

"Not so sure about that." Jack said trying to change the subject, "Fish mostly."

"But the, um, sharks." She laughed nervously, "They don't really... jump... or, uh, eat people, or come out of the water?"

"No, because then they'd be dead, love." Jack said in his most matter-of-fact voice.

"You know what I mean!" she saw another fin and realization struck, "You lied! You told me those were dolphins!"

"No, you assumed they were dolphins when I neglected to answer you. And if memory serves you were a little distracted at the time... and if you'll also remember, I didn't let you back near the rail till much later."

"But we have to leave the ship sometime." Lexa remarked pointedly.

"Onto land." Jack replied.

"I'll bet that's what those people thought before Jaws got them..."

"Jaws?" The name reminded him of a pirate he used to know who wasn't much of a sailor, but truly unbelievable in his intake of alcohol.

Lexa prompted to leave out the movie detail, "It was a huge, terrifying, man-eating white shark. Really freaking big. Scared the hell outta everyone."

"I promise not to let any huge, terrifying, big, hellish white sharks near you." He said crossing his heart, "But you know how to swim, aye?"

"Very reassuring, Captain." Lexa unsheathed the sword and practiced a little, it took her mind off the images of mangled bodies and stories from headline news.

Jack kept finding himself underestimating her, he had been ready to set anchor and administer the smelling salts. So far on this voyage she hadn't suffered from sea-sickness, panicking because of the utter darkness and quiet of night, nor had she shirked from any work that needed to be done.

She was a match for Anamaria and no mistake. She would have the edge in a fair fight, he just hoped it wouldn't come down to that. He didn't need Lexa fighting Arik, if there was a sword-fight to be done he'd duel it himself.

Jack had seen red sails behind them for the last couple of leagues, but that ship was at least three days behind and he had high hopes they'd be through with the curse and far away before he found out whom those sails belonged too.

He couldn't draw this out any longer, the hull of the ship touched shore, "This is it, Lexa. La Isla de Muerta."

Lexa saw the gold coins littering both the ground and water surrounding the cave. Jack helped her from the ship and looked around in distaste. Far too many memories were stored here. William and Elizabeth, Barbossa's death, the crew betrayal, being marooned... and that wasn't the cut version he had told Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was the type of woman whom, although not prone to fainting spells and swooning, wasn't exactly one to flourish in the pirating lifestyle. Not like Anamaria who seemed born and bred to it.

"Watch your step." Jack helped her down from the anchored ship and frowned in distaste when he saw the gold littering the caves slime and mold covered ground.

"Touch no gold though devil tempts." Lexa warned, she said it more for her benefit than Jack's. The coins shone and sparkled beguilingly from their resting place.

"No worries there." He muttered keeping his footing and Alex's at the same time. It would take all the hounds of hell to make him so much as think of taking any of this accursed treasure.

"Find the ring as befits a-"

"Jack?" he heard Lexa say sounding immensely fixated on something. When he saw what had so entranced hr, he had to blink to refocus his eyes. A ring sat perched in a monkeys curled tail atop a small mound of gems, necklaces, and coins.

"With hair the color of ravens wing..." Jack looked in Lexa's eyes and saw the turquoise-green against the startlingly same shade of her gaze. "With eyes enough to match..."

He had to give Iris credit, all of her hints were coming true, all they had to do was find the rest of the treasure, undo the curse, and sail away before any men in fine brocade came to call.

"_The rings a key, the chest you'll see, just search a little bit more. First length's done, without the sun, now keep away from the flintlock gun. Twas Jack's at first, but worst comes to worst, and now it's his no more, remember children time's almost up, rebury the treasure cursed." _

"Do you still have the pistol?" Lexa asked as Jack came out of the trance-like hold he was under.

"Course." He showed her the weapon from it's careful resting place on his waist. "Fully loaded now, however."

"Good, keep a sharp eye." She looked around the cave and repeated the verse for Jack's benefit. Where were they even to begin?


	14. For the death song

Chapter 14

Authors Note: I can't believe I waited so long for that chapter, I had it all on paper and it took only, what, a few hours to type? Yeesh, so here's the other one that I'll most likely update in computer class...

"So do we just... take it?" Alex asked staring at the ring wondering if horrible ghost spirits would descend on them if she took the jewel.

"Well if it's 'sposed to be a key..." Jack trailed off realizing the impossibility of what he was saying.

Lexa looked around in dismay, if they were to search for a treasure chest that fit the ring, they'd be there a lot more than two days. Not to mention, all of these locks looked to be for a 'key.' Not a ring.

"Erm, alright then." Lexa was tired of standing around and doing nothing but staring at it expecting it to jump from its place on the statue.

She unsheathed her sword and walked closer careful to keep her balance on the slippery gold and strands of pearls on the ground. Not sure if it was going to work, she was glad she couldn't see herself because the whole thing seemed idiotic.

Just her luck, she resheathed the sword impatiently, it hadn't worked. The blade was too big for the ring to fit through, and not caring anymore she walked up, grabbed the ring, and half skidded half fell back to where Jack stood.

"That was successful." Lexa sighed leaving her captain to walk around the cave and look at all the swag the pirates had left for the past eleven years. Some of this she could tell they took just because it was there.

No one had any use for forks or spoons, and after the twelfth set of silverware still attached to the bureau's drawer she had no idea what their motives were. She was looking for a chest with an irregular shaped lock.

The gem on the ring was teardrop shaped, and would have been something she'd have picked at a jewelry store, minus the curse, of course. A shiver went up her spine when she saw a silhouette down by one of the chests with parasols. If she weren't mistaken...

"Barbossa." She whispered making her way down looking to see where Jack was. Rooting through dresses and other clothes that covered more chests she didn't want to attract his attention and bring up more memories from his past.

Something didn't seem right, she had seen the movie so many times, but she couldn't remember what position Barbossa had died in. She was sure that he'd had one arm outstretched and the apple spilling from his hand.

Circling where the clothes hung from bones and flesh she noticed that he still hadn't entirely deteriorated. It was cool in the cave, which no doubt had prevented the process from being completed, but she was absolutely sure that both of his arms hadn't been crossed over his chest.

The sword was still strapped to his waist and a movement to her left distracted her attention from the corpse. Before she could do much but gasp she found herself flat on her back with that same sword against her throat.

"Go ahead, missy." Barbossa smiled, his eyes the same shade of unhealthy yellow, and his fingernails digging into her skin, "Invite good ol' Jack o'er here fer me."

True the sword was rusted and old, but she was sure it was still sharp enough to tear through the skin of her neck. She couldn't call Jack now, not when Barbossa clearly had the upper hand. The panic that was making it difficult to breathe wasn't helping matters either, surely there was some way for her to get free!

"Nuh-uh, lass." Barbossa breathed down on her and it took all she had not to gag, "Long years I've waited here for'im, call him or forfeit ye're life."

Lexa took a deep breath, but didn't close her eyes, if she were to die she'd do so with at least a shred of dignity. Instead of steel she felt coins sliding down to tangle in her hair, they were coming from the top of the treasure hill.

Jack's fierce golden gaze never left Barbossa's, this must have been what the verse about finding his past, meant.

"Holdin' hostages means ye keep an eye on'em. This one was about t'get away. What good would she be to you if she's running free, eh?" Barbossa laughed coldly, "Unless o'couse she isn't just another..."

"How are you still alive?" Jack asked trying to get Lexa's eye, she, however, was focused on something beyond his line of sight and he wasn't about to try and maneuver his way over there.

"A bit o'me own luck." Barbossa trailed one of his nails down the side of her face and Alex barely resisted the urge to hurl and fight back fatal sword wound be damned. "T'monkey proved his uses, as it is. Ye managed to maroon me without even tryin', mate."

"You'll have to excuse my lack of condolences," Jack said devoid of emotion. He was sure the bullet had hit Barbossa's heart, small as it was.

"So what do ye have to barter this time, Jack?" Barbossa said Jack's name the same as in the movie, the annoying drawn out syllables that made her nerves stand on end.

"Behind you." Lexa mouthed noticing the monkey coming closer, closer, it looked ready to pounce and Jack was vulnerable to it's attack. He didn't seem to notice, not her efforts at trying to protect him.

Just as the monkey pounced and Lexa jumped forward causing the blade to nick her, Jack caught the monkey by the tail never seeming to even look at the animal. The monkey thrashed and tried to bite him wildly, but Jack didn't waver.

"T'wench means somethin' to ye, doesn't she." Barbossa hadn't failed to notice the way Lexa had lurched forward to try and save Jack. "Reminds me of dear Elizabeth, she does. But I be wonderin', Jack, are ye willin' to risk all for her?"

Lexa leaned her weight on the blade causing more blood to fall in a crimson line from her neck, and pushed back against Barbossa forcing him to let her go. He did so without hesitation, there was nowhere for her to go, and he could have her back if he decided she'd be of use.

She knew it was a gamble, but trapped in his grasp wasn't much of an option either, and a little blood was better than a whole pool of it when he finally tired of talking. Barbossa hadn't any idea of what her true character was like, he only saw a woman traveling with Jack, therefore he assumed that she was being used for something.

However, she could use that to her advantage, he was like a lot of the men she had known, no matter how much evidence was put in front of them, they refused to believe that women were equal to them.

There was a red tapestry over a treasure chest directly behind Barbossa. She wouldn't have noticed it except for the gem that was etched upon its side, the color matched the ring currently located in her pocket.

The tapestry fell over where the key would fit, but with all of their lives on the line, she was ready to try anything. Barbossa was clearly once again one of the undead. Jack wasn't this time, and if the two of them fought, chances were Jack would be injured, or at the greatest extent, killed.

"What now," Jack grinned lethally while Lexa pulled the tapestry off the chest, "Still up to fighting till judgement day and the trumpet sounds?"

"Ye're daft." Barbossa had been watching the treasure carefully and Jack Sparrow hadn't gotten any of the coins.

"Its probable, why, fraid of losing?" Jack shrugged as if resigning himself to the fact.

Lexa had put the ring gem into the key opening and turned the lock. She fumbled slightly ignoring the sound of steel on steel and saw a picture of what her grandmother must have looked like in her youth. Underneath that was a black jewelry pouch, and a crystal growing eerily from the inside out.

A letter in faded parchment rested atop the crystal and she opened it with trembling fingers. So it seems Iris _had_ been to the Caribbean before, although her final choice had led her back to the twentieth century.

Jack parried blows and focused mainly on defending himself, his opponent didn't have the same weakness he did, death was still an option for the real pirate captain. Jack couldn't spare a glance towards Lexa, he and Barbossa always had been evenly matched. He needed a ploy, some kind of trick to buy her some time, and himself some as well.

It was taking everything in him not to reach for a golden medallion, survival was what Jack Sparrow knew most, and to be fighting a battle he couldn't win...

Alex picked up the crystal, the letter explained the origins of the curse. The original Cortes had apparently been popular with the ladies, on one of the islands he made camp at a priestess of the land seduced him and bore a child. The name of Cortes was passed down for generations ending with the one who had found the treasure.

The gold corrupted him making him do acts he otherwise wouldn't ever have considered. Innocent's blood was shed, so the priestess, with anguish in her heart, cursed the gold and anyone who touched it. Since she was protectress of the land, she was immortalized for as long as said land should still exist.

Until the innocent lives were avenged and blood was shed the curse would continue. In a crystal, lying in the black waters of the ocean, there lay trapped all of the souls destroyed by the malicious golden coins. Should one of pure heart find it and destroy it, the curse would end and Cortes be put to rest.

Iris had gone on to explain that she had been part of the crew to find the crystal. She had written a spell to get back to the times of Blackbeard. Things went awry and instead of Edward Teach, a buccaneer crew determined to find the crystal took her hostage. Iris had been mistaken as a descendant of the priestess due to her startlingly green eyes, but she hadn't known then what the crystal's purpose was.

On the way out of the cave, she had gotten the men to agree that the crystal would be safe with the gold until they returned, Arik had killed the crew she had signed on with. He'd heard of treasure that could only be found by one who knew the sacred island of Cortes, but Iris refused to give up the bearings.

He docked on Tortuga to replenish supplies and there Iris met Jack Sparrow. She had always had the penchant for reading people and even then power had surged through her mind allowing her to understand that one-day he and her successor would meet and have the chance to change things. Iris had given Jack a treasure beyond any imagining in hope his curiosity would put the curse at rest at last.

Lexa remembered the spells and chants Iris had been famous for, and the sadness that came to her eyes when she looked towards the ocean.

Iris knew time hadn't been right then, if Lexa was to undertake the unfinished task, it had to be of her own volition. Lexa was here now and determined to end what had plagued her grandmotheruntil the day of her death.

She walked to the middle of the cave avoiding the reefs where Jack and Barbossa fought. She stood over the treasure and read:

"She found the crystal, lady of light, let your rage burn hot, mighty, and bright. Turn back time, end this rhyme, send them any sort of sign. O Lady strong, undo the wrongs, put your people right. On count of three your might is met, the curse it lasts no more. One, the souls are laid to rest, from deep in this heart they go. Two, Ariks fate is set, justice will be sown. Three, I thank thee lady seen, now taking the treasure it never hath been.

As she finished the passage the light that illuminated the chest of gold grew stronger. The crystal burned and Lexa dropped it before the burning on her hands did permanent damage.

Glass shattered and an unearthly wailing filled the air. Jack and Barbossa ceased their dueling. The light got so bright that all except Barbossa had to shield their eyes.

"No." The older pirate let the sword clatter from his hand and ran over to where Cortes treasure lie. "You stupid wretch!" he howled lifting handfuls of coin in desperation, "Do you know what you've done?!"

Lexa gasped as the tips of his boots faded before slowly disappearing. The rest of him followed suit reminding her of the Matrix when Neo had touched the silver mirror. Bit by bit he was consumed, seemingly without Barbossa noticing.

"We did it, Jack." Lexa found herself wrapped in Jack's embrace "We did it."

"That we did, luv." Jack kissed her forehead turning her face from the ghastly vision of Barbossa's eyes gleaming in mid0air before following the rest of him, wherever he'd gone the voices had stopped their high-pitched shrieks. "Iris would be-"

She heard the sickening thud of steel meeting flesh before seeing his eyes widen in shock. Someone screamed but she didn't know who. Crimson flowed from a wound leaking blood near his ribs on the left.

"Jack?" she helped him to the ground and held his hand refusing to believe the worst. "No, you can't. Not like this, not here!" tears pooled in her eyes, everything had happened so suddenly!

"Turn around." He echoed her earlier warning and wrapped her hand around the hilt of her sword.

"Jack, please." A tear rolled down her face and fell on the once white color of his shirt. "You're Captain Jack Sparrow, you can't die like this!"

"There's no better way, sweet." He wiped her eyes and set her away from him, "Face your demons, Lexa."

If this was what Iris had planned, he had no arguments. Barbossa was, once and for all, dead, his ship would be in good hands. He could finally stop trying to cheat fate from what they wanted. This was how he'd always planned it, fighting until the end, he was only regretful that he wouldn't be able to see how the battle concluded.

With that his eyes closed and he gave into the comforting darkness that beckoned to him.

Authors Note: Do you think I killed Jack off? I promised I'd do it one day, but now Lexa is left all alone, so I'm not sure whether or not he's going to stay dead. Man, it's hard to write stories with little bits and pieces of info everywhere. I think I've incorporated most of the verses in, and the rest you'll have to stick around to see. Not all the meaning's are what they seem...


	15. Chills to the core

Chapter 15

Authors Note: I hope the curse was believable... and that there was more than one Cortes. I really wanted Iris to have her own part and to distinguish her role in the stories. Arik had to come back, Jack's death was foretold, but will I bring other characters back? I don't know yet... depends.

"Well, well, well." A booming voice echoed in the caves interior, "The bitch's whoring heir come to finish the job."

"Arik Casio." Lexa stood slowly and faced Iris' oppressor. The blue brocade was the same, boots polished to a shine, and a richly plumed hat on his head. A hat with what looked like a hawk's feather, adorning the brim was settled over short brown hair.

"In the flesh." Aril smirked seeing Jack's blood staining the front of Lexa's shirt. "You remind me of her, except she was a little bit more..." he made a crude motion with his hand to emphasize larger breasts.

Red clouded her vision, Jack hadn't moved since he'd fallen and grief clogged her throat when she contemplated life without him. It was Arik's knife, the cowardly son-of-a-bitch, which had been thrown into Jack's defenseless back.

That thought had her unsheathing the sword with a hiss of friction against the leather. She unconsciously had kept her body protectively in front of Jack's, the need to kill Arik foremost in her mind.

"The lass seems to have a savage side," Arik smirked looking towards his crew who laughed, "I'll bet you she bites... and screams."

"Enough talking." Lexa said quietly, "We finish this, here and now."

"Far be it from me to deny a lady's needs." He held the sword braced for fight, an inhuman sadistic glint in his eyes, "What are your terms?"

"Your death." Lexa lunged and Arik barely brought his blade up to counter the attack. She didn't have any brilliant strategy in mind, but neither was she allowing her emotions to dictate her actions.

It was as if her heart had been encased in ice; she couldn't feel anything but the cutlass, an extension of her arm to dole out fate's justice.

"If I win," Arik countered forcing her back a few paces, "I want you, in my bed, for as long as it takes to break you."

"Into S and M, eh?" Sparks flew when the metal rebounded from a stone wall, "How original."

Alex vaguely comprehended the commotion Arik's crew was making. One misstep and Arik would win the fight. It was taking all she had to match and deliver cuts of her own. This was no mock battle in which they'd stop after first blood, she'd named the rules and only the one still breathing would walk away.

"I hereby restore order under Her Majesty, the Queen's royal orders."

Arik and Lexa looked up in disbelief, most of the crew had been rounded up by the Royal Navy's soldiers. Reading the proclamation was none other than Gillette, Commodore Norrington's first hand man.

White light burned behind her eyes, her right arm hung unmoving at her side. Arik had slashed a cut from her shoulder to a few inches above her elbow.

"This ends now, wretch."

"Drop your weapons, men." Norrington had a pistol leveled at Arik's heart. As Lexa was dressed as a man with her hair pony-tailed behind her and dirt smudged on her face, she knew that she looked more like a lad than a lady.

"Privateers or not, you are still under the Royal crown and therefore bound by her laws."

"Privateer?" Lexa repeated incredulously.

"You were hunting the pirate called Jack Sparrow, were you not?" Arik smiled knowing his name was cleared. The wench wouldn't forsake Sparrow, and he'd be accredited with bringing in two pirates. Back at Port Royale he'd be able to see the both of them hanged, as well as receiving the bounty on Sparrow's head.

"You have word?" Norrington asked curtly, he didn't like the finely tailored man at all. The younger lad standing next to him looked oddly familiar, and judging by the look of distaste when privateers had been mentioned...

"He's right over there, Captain." Arik pointed to where he'd last seen Jack.

"Commodore." Gillette corrected primly.

"My apologies, Commodore." Arik bowed subtly mocking, "Jack Sparrow's body is o'er there."

"Cowardly bastard." Lexa snarled turning on Arik wanting to tear his eyes out, "Vile reptilian snake."

"I'll have you tried and hanged too." Arik whispered fiercely, "Plead for your life, wench."

A shot rang out and Arik clutched at his heart where a blossom of red had started to grow. Lexa's breath caught in her throat when she saw Jack Sparrow holding his pistol as if grasping for life. His face was pale bringing out the black kohl around his eyes, but he was alive!

He stood steadily his tawny golden gaze held Lexa's making an unspoken promise. "Be the lady." He mouthed when Norrington and several other officers went to rush over towards Arik's lifeless corpse. "Become Norrington's wife, Lexa. Blame me as a pirate for what's befallen you."

She wanted nothing more than to run over to him, her legs were shaking under her from keeping the sobs silent. Her vision swam and as if in a dream she saw Norrington handcuff him and bring him tied onto the ship, herself led by two other men.

"Take the silver." Norrington ordered, "We need sufficient proof."

Lexa saw now that the gold had been turned silver from whatever force, which had undone the curse. It brought back to mind all Jack had said about treasure, not all of it was silver and gold.

That was another part of the curse that had yet to be done, Lexa didn't know whether or not it was fate that had intervened, but the treasure was going with them, and she'd have to find some way to make sure no one else found it.

"Commodore?" she said his name softly her heart bleeding with what she was about to do, "Commodore Norrington, sir?"

He turned a stern expression on his face, he was obviously used to being addressed by pirates, but he didn't appreciate it. This time when he faced whom he had thought was a lad, he was surprised to see her long black hair curling around her face and the green eyes beseeching him for help. He didn't understand it was on Jack's behalf that she was silently pleading.

"Alexandria?" he said, she was the last person he expected to see. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Kidnapped her." Jack said jauntily, "Such a pretty lass, I couldn't let 'er get away."

"Vile man." Norrington turned censoring eyes on him and Lexa wanted to stand in front of him as Will and Elizabeth had done swearing to protect him from further pain. "Taking a lass of this age, exposing her to the depraved world of piracy."

"Well you see 'er," Jack waved his hand in a circle, "Could you have let her get away?"

"And to think I thought you a decent man."

"Pirate." Jack smirked not meeting her eyes at all. Jack, she wanted to cry, if we're going to hang, lets both die as pirates. She couldn't leave him to meet that fate alone, again.

"Bring him below, he'll face his crimes soon enough. Port Royale, he'll hang for certain this time."

"Men, remove her irons at once." She forced herself to stand straight and not wrap her arms around her stomach at the sight of them leading Jack away. She didn't know how it was possible, the pain ripping through her was excruciating in it's intensity.

"Come with me, Alexandria." Norrington wrapped his jacket around her shoulders and led her to a more private part of the ship. "How did you ever cross Sparrow's path?"

"Just Alex, Commodore." She said sitting down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. It felt as if she were back at school facing the principal for something she'd done, the view was the same as was the wooden desk looming up before her. "And as for Jack, I just sort of stumbled into his way."

"How are you feeling?" he asked pacing around the room as if not sure what to do, "I beg your pardon for saying, but you really don't look well. Do you want me to call the ships doctor?"

"No, not necessary, thank you." She smiled gratefully, there was nothing the doctor could do for her. Was it possible to die from internal pain that had nothing to do with the body but everything to do with her heart? "Might I ask though, what's going to happen to Captain Sparrow?"

"He'll be hanged." The Commodore answered without hesitating and as his back was turned to her he didn't see her shut her eyes to hide the fresh onslaught of tears. "I'll call some men to fetch something for you to eat, you must be starving. Then, if you'd like..." he wasn't sure how to ask if she'd want water to bathe in. It was a subject he'd never had to inquire over before and one that wasn't exactly heeding propriety.

"I'm grateful for whatever you can do, Commodore." She said, he didn't miss the lines of fatigue around her eyes, nor had he neglected to notice that she hadn't moved from that position the entire time they'd been speaking.

"James, you may call me James, if that's your wish." He didn't want them to be so formal anymore, she had given him leave to call her by her Christian name, he could do the same. "I'll return momentarily, I have to go and check on the pirate."

Well, Jack thought, leaning against the cell near the far side of the wall, they all had taken this risk when becoming pirates. Lexa might have mastered ocean life to a fault, but the consequences he didn't feel she'd need to face.

She had a future ahead of her, and someone had to alert the crew about his death. The only thing that rankled him was the thought of her marrying the Commodore and conforming to their society. They'd crush the independent, self-reliant woman into a polite, meek, and biddable hostess.

"Jack?" he started at the sound of her voice, she appeared in a fetching crimson gown, plain in appearance, but hinting at the curves he'd been well acquainted with.

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked concern in his voice, "Go back above decks before the Commodore realizes what 'tis you're doing."

"I can't watch you hang." She refused to allow tears come to her eyes, she'd certainly done enough of that the past few days. In the cave, when Jack saved her from Arik, when she was brought onboard, adding all those times together equaled more than all the last seven years combined!

"I imagine you'll be busy that day being the Commodore's wife..."

"Not likely." Lexa snorted, she knew that's what Jack wanted for her, but she didn't think she'd ever fall for someone the way she had him. "Who the hell did that to you?" she snarled standing as close to the bars as she could.

Jack knew what she was referring too, the left side of his face was slightly painful from where one the officers had punched him.

"Did what, luv?"

"Don't wheedle me in that tone of voice." She took his hand and pulled him closer trying to see in the dim light coming through the wood and cut windows of the ship. What she wouldn't give for her travel booklight!

A deep purpling bruise spread from his high cheekbones down to the underside of his jaw, almost as if someone had hit him with-

"Where's your pistol, Jack?"

She growled softly in her throat when he pointedly stared, the Navy officers had taken it, that part of the Iris's verse had come true. The flintlock pistol and then it being Jack's no more, but they hadn't left him with his sword either.

It was chilling, she felt as if she were trapped inside some fanfic story, people planning plots and adventures for them, just a puppet to be used on their whim. How had Iris known all that would happen?

"Go on." He stepped back and resumed his place in the corner, "We won't be there for night three days. Go before they discover you here."

"I'll be back later with food." She promised remembering what the cook had been preparing. Though history had said eating while enlisted was limited to stale bread and moldy meat, that wasn't the case here.

"No need." Jack grinned ruefully though it didn't quite reach his eyes, "I won't be needing to stay alive anyway." He had meant it as a joke, but in the stale air and swaying of the ship it sounded more like he'd just slammed his story's book shut.

"You'll need to eat." Lexa said eyes flashing dangerously.

"I'm waiting for the opportune moment, I don't plan on doing anything stupid." She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, "Like watch you die..."

Authors Note 2: Okay, so a few more chapters and then this story'll be over. I'm sad to see it go, it was loads of fun to write, and all the verses was something new I hadn't incorporated into stories before. Thanks for all the great reviews!! And Jacfan2, I forgot to mention her in the last chapter, for the help with certain phrasing for that chapter. Thanks a lot, mate, you really helped!


	16. Until horizon calls and sunrise ceases a...

Chapter 16

As they passed through the shark infested passage Lexa crept late at night to where they had stored the treasure, on first try she was surprised to see that the stone casement they were stored in was so light. She didn't want to contemplate that maybe someone or something unearthly was helping her, it was dark and her nerves were on end as it were.

Men milled about, but most of them had gone to sleep, the weather had stayed tranquil and it only took a few to keep the ship running as it should be.

"The gold it goes, back to it's watery grave. Silvery and pure the battles finally staved. Two souls put into the balance, it matters naught from here on. Take it back, ne'er to be seen again, now rest in peace so mote it be."

The chest slipped into the water and with another flash of bright light disappeared. She wanted to feel Jack's arms come around her and promise they'd find the horizon soon enough. They had all the time in the world, but she couldn't risk visiting him again that night.

She had already snuck down enough food to feed two men, and Norrington might grow suspicious if she hid any more food in baskets claiming she got hungry late at night. They would set port late tomorrow evening and from there she'd decide what to do.

James had decided she was better off staying with the Turners. She knew them at least and they certainly had room for her.

Jack Sparrow got a jail cell, however much improved, without Will's guidance, from last time, with the same guard dog watching over him.

There were no other prisoners, which told him just how respected Norrington had gotten to be. No pirate was willing to cross the man who had, albeit briefly, captured the infamous Jack Sparrow. He hadn't heard word of a hanging yet, so he didn't know how long it would be until they reached a decision. Not that it would be a hard one to make.

Lexa wore a new dress, this one had a lower cut bodice and straighter skirt, it was a blue color reminding her of the dress Jack had given her. She still wore the necklace, had refused to take it off, in fact.

Elizabeth had insisted that they attend a soiree, which Lexa reluctantly agreed to for Elizabeth's sake. Will hadn't wanted to go either, he much preferred staying at the blacksmith shop than facing a bunch of starry-eyed giggling girls who whispered about him as if he couldn't hear, nor did he like the men who looked at Elizabeth with far less propriety than warranted considering she was his wife.

So far it had been alright, Lexa was able to stay out of the way of amorous males and the gossipers. She was able to hear everything that was going on without actually having to partake in it herself. Though she was grateful for all Elizabeth had done for her, she sometimes found herself growing annoyed at Elizabeth's outlook on piracy and, more importantly, Jack Sparrow.

Elizabeth kept saying how fortunate it was that Lexa got away from the whole pillaging and plundering act, and although she wished she could do something for Jack, it was basically hopeless this time. Will couldn't go gallivanting off to save Jack when the Navy had threatened to arrest them for it.

Now that Jack was back on the island she heard various women talking of how much they would want one night with him just to prove they'd slept with a pirate. Lexa had to sip her glass of port to keep from strangling the lot of them.

Elizabeth was dancing with William, they did look awfully terrific together she noticed, the sparkle in the couple's eye proved their love to all who looked upon them. It was almost like the movies, the curse had ended, Jack Sparrow was caught, and she was... she didn't know exactly where she stood.

She almost hated herself, if this _had_ been a story she would have hated her character. When reviewing she always admonished characters when they didn't fight for the ones they loved, if they just stood amicably aside because they were women, but what was she doing? She was no better than they.

"Have you heard? Sparrow's in one of the cells that belong to the Navy!"

It was yet another voice speaking in boastful tones the fate of Jack. She clenched her knuckles around the wine glass fighting down the consuming anger. It was the high voice of a girl not yet a woman, but there lay a malicious edge to the tone.

"Do you really believe all the stories, Martha?" a squeaky voice entered the conversation this one, Lexa was sure, belonged to an even younger girl.

"Course I do, Polly! Mmm.. can you imagine all the wicked things he's done? Little more than a savage, I bet."

What was she doing just standing here in the middle of a crowded ballroom? Where she wanted most to be was with Jack.

"Can you believe the Commodore is betrothed?" that last sentence brought her up short, hope flaring in her heart. If the Commodore was engaged she had an excuse, Jack would have to risk fighting now!

"To that red-haired lass from the corner, eh?" Martha replied her tones hushed, "He called on her right after Jack made his escape. Again. Speaking of, I heard Sparrow's not in the least bit civilized. He has women and then he kills them so they can't ever bed another man."

"Sounds dreadfully terrifying! Are you going to watch him hang?"

"Wouldn't miss it for anything, Ma already said I could."

"You self-serving, low-born, vile wretches!" Lexa couldn't take it anymore, she didn't plan on staying on Port Royale anyway, nor did she care one whit what they thought of her.

"Just who," Martha looked conceitedly down her nose at Lexa though she stood a good two inches shorter, "are you?"

"Jack Sparrow is far more civilized than the two of you put together. He's better than any titled gentleman in this room. Standing here thinking of his death, you're not fit company for pigs! Instead of spiteful gossip did it ever occur to you brainless twits to actually go and acquire _real_ knowledge instead of the mindless prattle you engage in?!"

"How dare you!" Polly hissed, "_I'm_ titled, Papa says so. I can have you ruined, who're you to talk to us that way? I could have Jack Sparrow if I wanted!"

"Could you?" Lexa grinned evilly, "_I'm_ his, I wouldn't think of _owning_ him, your lot would already consider me ruined. But you know what? I'm still standing. He didn't 'kill me in my sleep', or terrorize me with his 'savage' ways. The only savages here are you. Stupid, insensitive, shallow bitches. The only way he'll hang is if I'm strung up next to him. Take that and go to hell."

She left the two girls pale and justly chastised as she left the ballroom and walked the long way to the jail. If anyone were to follow her they'd think she headed home, most of the people were at the soiree anyway, so she doubted she'd encounter anyone.

Adrenaline still ran through her veins and she belatedly realized she'd stolen a port glass. She laughed as she changed her mind and ran up the stairs to Elizabeth and Will's house. Changing before she went to the jail would be good, running around in dresses and finery wasn't her style. She had been missing her boots and pants, Elizabeth hadn't allowed her to wear them since the night they'd welcomed her into their house.

Her shirt still had the salty smell of the ocean upon it. It felt so good to finally go back to being simple Lexa, pirate lass. Commodore Norrington was engaged to the woman whom she had seen peering wistfully outside the window near Will's smithy. She had left a note for Will and Elizabeth, and the soiree served as perfect cover for escape.

No one on Port Royale would consider helping Jack escape, Will and Elizabeth were firmly being watched at the ball, and she had free rein to their jail. All she had to do was find the keys and Jack's effects. She couldn't expect a pirate to leave without his compass, pistol, and sword!

The keys weren't hard to unearth they were all hung on a rusted ring on the inside of the jailers office. It was a good thing she knew how to pick door locks otherwise she would have had a slightly larger complication.

Jack had his hat over his face, but he was facing towards where boats were docked in the harbor. She unlocked the door and as he put the tricorn hat back in place on his head she had her arms wrapped around him.

"God, Jack, I missed you so much." She buried her face in his shoulder and hugged him until the empty ache inside her stomach and heart subsided. He hugged her back after the initial shock wore off and then proceeded to do more than just hug. He smoothed back her hair and when she looked at him, kissed her, a long deep kiss that erased whatever heartsickness she had.

"What's wrong, love? Who hurt you?" his eyes were liquid amber and at the thought of someone causing her pain he reached for the sword that was no longer there. Pure instinct had him reacting despite the fact the cell's door was wide open tempting him with freedom.

"No one." She grinned impishly, "We're free, everyone's at a party. Come on, Captain. You owe me a horizon and a trip to Singapore."

"Well, a promise given..." he kissed her again before escorting her out of the cell. He found his effects hanging on the same peg as before, and Lexa patted the dog good-bye vowing never to see it again.

The two ran through the night down to the docks careful to avoid anyone's searching eyes. They were almost scot-free when upon untying one of the ropes the click of heels was heard behind them.

"I should have known something like this would happen."

Lexa turned calmly facing whomever was trying to stop them, she didn't care if it was the whole Royal Navy, no one was taking Jack back to jail. To her surprise it was only James who looked amused at the sight of them.

"James, you found a wife..." Lexa let the other half of the sentence say itself.

"Really? Who's the lucky lass?" Jack raised a tankard that Lexa had taken in a toast.

"I trust the Navy will be far less hassled than 'tis now?" James sighed in resignation.

"I promise, I'll keep him away from your ships." She smiled, "Most of the time, I have to visit, you know? Preferably away from this port."

"Yes, jail security here will never be the same." He said sounding so much like Jack Davenport Lexa found herself laughing about it.

"Thank you, Commodore." Lexa boarded the ship with Jack, but before they left she threw a large bag of coins where the rope was coiled. "The owner can afford to buy three boats with that, I'm not _all_ pirate yet..."

"Yes, you are." Jack turned the wheel and guided the ship out of the port. Lexa gasped, she finally understood the verse part that hadn't made any sense. 'Find the wine twas mine...' her grandmother had always had a glass of port before she went to sleep. What had they been drinking at the ball?

Her mind was already made up, there was no way she could go back to the twenty-first century. Life was just about perfect here and she couldn't leave Jack again. If she did it would end up destroying her, she had a whole world to explore and to do so as a pirate?

"I love you, Jack." She said, with the night sky where she could actually see the stars, and the rocking motion of the ship that she'd always love, this was where she could _live._

"Love you too, Lexa." Jack rigged the wheel in place and pulled her over to the balcony... another of her fantasy's come true. She laughed wickedly and knew that she _was_ home.

Authors Note 2: It's finally done, oh my goodness, I know what you're all thinking. If it took her only two days to write why did she take so bloody long to update?! I'm sorry for that, lol, but it's here now, and I hope you like it!!! Should she have been sadder at not going _home_? I don't think so, she didn't really like it there, and here's where her soul belongs. Also, was the whole I love you thing a little too fluffy? I thought it had to be said, but maybe not. Any suggestions, I'll delete it if it doesn't fit...


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